My Side of the War
by TurtleXing
Summary: Gabriele shelters a Jewish man whom she soon falls in love with. But how long can she keep him hidden from all the people that want to kill him?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Oh, mother! How can people be so cruel to Jews?" That was the question I asked my parents whenever I saw Jews beaten in the street.

"Because they are Jews. Filthy Jews. They deserve what ever they get." And that was the answer I always got from my parents.

"But children? Teenagers my age? What could they have possibly done wrong?" As soon as I said that my parents looked at me like I had two heads.

"Young Jews become older Jews. That's enough now Gabriele. Come and eat dinner. I made your favorite desert tonight."

My family is a typical, loyal German family. My mother, Gertrude, is one of the best mothers a girl can possibly have. She is always in an apron cooking or with a broom in her hand cleaning something. She always has the same appearance though. The same tight bun on top of her head and old fashioned dresses down to her ankles. My father, Anto, is where I get my strength, courage and stubbornness. At work and in public he is always so stern, but at home, he is a totally different person. He will play board games and watch scary movies with my mother and I until late at night.

And then there is me. Gabriele. Seventeen year old, simple, blond hair, blue eyed Gabriele. I have always been told that I have the appearance of what a _perfect _German should look and act like. But the only problem is, I don't want to be perfect. I want to have my own personal characteristics that make me different. Instead of blond hair I wish I had long brown hair. At least then I would be looked at differently rather than the same as everyone else. And I don't always want to be so proper in public. I want to run around with my hair down flowing in the wind and fall down, scraping my knee. I want to be known as Gabi instead as Gabriele. I want to have an adventure that I will remember for the rest of my life. And that is exactly what I got.

It all started one day when I came home from piano lesson. After listening to father yelling at the radio about the war all night, I had had enough. I needed to get out of the house before I lost my mine. I pulled on my brown boots and black sweater and headed out the door. The chilled evening air sent a shiver down my bones. It had been years since I had gone for a walk by myself. But I was older now and monsters didn't scare me more. That is if you don't count the SS guards monsters.

As I made my way down the cobble stone street, I heard moaning coming from behind the hundred year old post office. It sounded like a person in pain. I slowly followed the noise until I was behind the post office and saw a young man about my age crumpled up on the floor. I gasped out in horror as I saw the condition of the man. He was terribly beaten up and had blood gushing down from his nose and lip.

"Here, let me help you." I wrapped my arms around the young man's body and propped him up against the wall. His head rolled around his neck as if he had no control over it. I noticed that he was wearing a yellow star on his jacket. My mother and father's voice kept saying _"Leave him be! He is a Jew!"_ over and over in my mind but Jew or not he is still a human being. I took out my handkerchief from my pocket and dabbed his lip with it.

"No, I am Jewish. You can get into trouble for helping a Jew." The young man tried to push my hands away from him but I was to stubborn to listen to him.

"And I am a German, but what ever your religion is, you are still a person aren't you?" He nodded to me and finally let his arms fall down to the ground.

"Wait here. I am going to get my first aid kit from my home and I will be right back. I promise. Just stay here." Right after I said that, I stood up and ran as fast as I could back home. As soon as I was inside, I tip-toed my way up stairs to my room and snatched my first aid kit. I was almost out the door when I heard my mother calling me.

"Gabriele? Is that you sweetie?" I let out a sigh and answered.

"Yes mother. I just came home for one of daddy's large sweaters to wear. It's quite cold outside. I'll be back soon though."

"Alright. Just don't make any sense of contact with any Jews." I laughed to myself and shut the door behind me. Then as soon as I knew it, I was racing myself down the street again and rounded the corner to the old post office.

"Are you sure you want to help me?" The young man lifted his head up and looked at me as I poured alcohol on the cut above his eyebrow.

"I wouldn't just leave you here."

"Your really different from all the other German's I know." I stopped what I was doing and stared at him.

"Did I say something wrong?" He looked confused.

"No. Did you just say that I am different from other people?" I smiled at him.

"Yes. I can't name another German who would help a Jew." I was finally different.

"I'm Will by the way." I sensed he was flirting with me, but I didn't mind because he was unbelievably good looking. Behind all the blood, I could see that he had beautiful brown eyes.

"Gabriele. But you can call me Gabi. That's what my friends call me" I shyly answered as I tore open another band aid.

"Who did this to you? And why?" I dabbed away the blood from his hands.

"Just a group of German teenagers." He lowered his eyes to the ground.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why people are doing this." I gave Will a sympathetic glance. I knew that his mood was getting worse and worse so I tried to change the subject.

"I'm seventeen by the way. How old are you?"

" Eight-eighteen." A cold gust of wind blew by us and chilled Will down to the point of making him shiver. I took off my dad's sweater and draped it around his shoulders.

"Thank you." At last I had got to see him smile.

"Well, there you go. That should get you back to your house. I'll walk you back to make sure you get there alright."

"No, it's fine. I'll be alright. I don't think that it would look good if anyone saw us walking together." I nodded my head in agreement.

"Ok. Just be careful."

"I will. Thank you so much Gabi." As soon as he said that, he took my hand in his and gently kissed it as if we were in a royal ball as a prince and princess.

"Your welcome Will." I watched him walk all the way down the street to the poorer section of town until I couldn't see him anymore. I must have swallowed a nest of caterpillars because my stomach was bursting with butterflies.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm sorry to the readers of my story that it is taking me so long to type the chapters out, but I have had a bad case of writers block. So I decided to make a few changes and retype my story starting with this chapter! I think that this is much better. Please write reviews to tell me if it is good enough! Thank you so much! **

**Chapter 2**

It was Saturday morning and all I could think about was Will. What if my parents knew that I, a German, helped a Jew recover from a beating? I knew that they would never forgive me because they were loyal Germans. But it was the only human thing to do. I was happy that it was the weekend because it would give me time to look for Will again. I really wanted to be near him to see how he was. I decided that a walk was my best chance to find him. So as soon as I ate breakfast, I pulled on my cream colored sweater and stepped outside. It seemed as if everyone was in a good mood that morning. As I walked down main street, numerous people wished me a good morning and gave me warm smiles. Then it hit me. An idea that I had never thought about. Will wood be in the Jewish section of town! That's were all the Jews had to stay.

I wrapped my head inside my shawl and blended right in with the rest of the Jews. There living area was a lot different from mine. It wasn't as strict and orderly as ours. Everybody seemed to be wearing the same thing and all had a yellow star sewn on the clothing. I felt a little out of place with my expensive clothes on, but I only had one thing on my mind and it was to find Will.

"Miss, can you spare some money please?" I spun around to find an old women that looked like she was in her late sixties holding out her wrinkly, boney, shaking hand to me. She wore a lime green coat that looked as old as her, with a furry hat on her head that had a feather sticking out from it.

"Sorry, no." I didn't want to attract any more attention to myself as I already have. I felt sorry for the women as she walked away from me. Her head hung low and she dragged her feet as she walked.

I continued walking searching everywhere for Will. Then I saw a group of boys about my age and walked over to them.

"Excuse me, but do you know anyone named Will that lives here?" There were six boys all about eighteen or nineteen. Each one looked at me with confusion. One of the boys pushed through the rest as soon as I said Will's name.

"Gabi? Is that you?" I knew his voice. All the other boys faces lost color when they saw Will's excitement.

"Will! Oh, I thought I would never find you." I tried to talk as a normal person would but I almost lost my train of thought as I looked into Will's smoldering hazel eyes burst with excitement. He was wearing a white, button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and brown slacks. Just the sight of him took my breath away.

"Gabi, what are you doing here? You-" Will took my arm and lead me away from the rest of the crowd. "You could get into a lot of trouble if anyone you knew found you here."

"I know, but I wanted to see you again. You, um, still have my sweater." The corners of Will's mouth turned up as I tried my best to lighten the mood with my lame excuse to be with him.

"Would you like to take a walk?" I was stunned at his request but nodded my head in agreement. I flashed one more glance at the gang of boys behind us. All of them had looks of anger and confusion. "Your sweater is at my house. Would you like to meet my family? I told them what you did for me and they are dying to meet you." I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of anyone _dying_ to meet me.

"So how are you feeling?" I asked, trying not to sound to pathetic.

"Fine. It was sort of my fault, I was out after curfew." I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at Will, astonished.

"How on earth could you say that? It was _your_ fault for just walking outside that you had to be beaten senseless?" My hands were clenched in fists of rage. I hated the fact that he thought he deserved what he got.

"Gabi, life is a lot more different for me than it is for you" he said in a calming voice. "There are certain rules that we must follow to survive. And one of them is not being outside after curfew." Will put his hand an my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look. Of course, the dreaded tears poured down my face.

"What other rules do you have to follow" I asked as we made our way down the cobble stone street.

"Well, we are not allowed to associate with Germans or other non-Jews." He glanced me way and gave me a sharp look. "We can't own any sort of business, have bikes, ride cars, go to movie theaters, have jewelry, celebrate holidays, have radios… should I go on or do you get the point?" I glanced up at him and smiled.

"How do you survive like this? Don't you miss any of the things you used to have?"

"Of course I do. But I have no other choice." Minutes passed by as we walked in total silence. Finally he broke the ice. "Do you see that big oak tree over there?" I arched my neck in the direction of Will's finger.

"Yes. It's beautiful."

"That's the only tree we have in our living section. It has been here for decades… that can be our tree." I spun around and looked at Will. I had never felt so happy and warm inside like this before. He took my hands in his and stroked them gently. "Yes. That will be our tree" I whispered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It didn't take long to get to Will's house. I had never been to that part of town and I was shocked. It didn't look anything like what I had seen before. It was a beautiful, cozy, little house hidden by some older not so beautiful ones. I even saw a tiny garden under one of the windows. It was made completely of brick and had a brown wooden door that looked as if it were one hundred years old. The roof tiles were all intact but some of the window glass was missing. A small chimney poked out from the top of the roof.

"I think my parents are home now, do you want to come in?" Will's voice was very convincing. It had a hint of excitement in it that left me with no other choice but to go in. How could I say no to him?! "Come on, they'll love to meet you" Will said taking my hand and pulling towards the ancient, wooden door.

As soon as we were inside, a sudden rush of freshly baked bread and lavender filled my nostrils. The scent was so comforting, I couldn't see why anyone wouldn't want to leave here. Inside, old family portraits lined the walls. Shelves filled with religious knickknacks and home made mother's day gifts filled the room. A tiny kitchen that had a stove and sink was hidden in the corner of the house. Sun light poured in from the only window in the kitchen.

"Will…your house is so cozy. It has a warm feeling in it. Mine is almost like an office." I glanced up at Will to find him staring back at me with a wide grin on his face.

"Wait right here while I get my family." I was about to ask what their names were but before I could, Will was racing up the stairs. I decided to pull out a chair and wait for him to come back. The chair was creaky, but somewhat comfortable. How I wished my home was like this.

"Gabi, this is my mother Yvetta, my father Henrick, my sister Talia, and my two brothers Jordan and Simon. Everyone, this is Gabriele. The one I told you about." They all lined up beside each other and looked at me. I could tell that Will had a big, but happy family. Each one gave me a warm smile except Simon. He had a look of fury on his face. I froze when my innocent eyes caught his angry ones. What could I have possibly done wrong to anger him so much? I had just met him!

"It's so nice to meet you young lady." Yvetta's voice had a certain warmth to it. I couldn't possibly know what her voice sounded like when she got mad. She lent into me and gave me a giant bear hug.

"So you're the German that helped the Jew, huh?" Simon's words sent chills down my spine as he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest waiting for my answer. As soon as he said that Will gave him a sharp look that could kill.

"Just one human helping another." I replied giving him a smile that meant _back off!_

"The world doesn't see that sometimes. Now everything relies on religion." Henrick gave me another kind, welcoming smile.

"Do your parents know you're here, Gab-ri-ele is it?" Talia stepped in closer to me and looked at me with concerning eyes.

"Gabi, and no. I just came to see if Will was ok. He looked really bad the last time I had seen him." Talia flashed me a warm smile, although I could sense a look of panic in it.

"It's fine though really, I used to come here all the time. Nobody will notice." I scanned each face to see their reaction.

"Fine for you anyway" Simon snapped back at me. "What about us? Did you even think of the danger you might be putting all of us in?" He sighed. "_Germans_."

"Hush Simon!" Jordan elbowed Simon in the ribs and looked back at me. "He's a fool Gabi. He's only sixteen, the youngest of us all and the most foolish." Jordan smiled at me but it was no comfort.

"No. He's right. I shouldn't have come back, it's so dangerous for all of you. Please forgive me. I'll leave now." I turned around and tried as quickly as I could to get out of the house when I felt a hand grab my arm. It was Talia.

"No, please don't leave Gabi. We never have guests anymore. Simon is just jealous because he doesn't have a girlfriend as pretty as Will has." She linked her arm around mine and pulled me back towards all the family. It was very easy to like Talia.

"We want you to stay Gabi" Jordan said with sincerity in his voice. I turned to Will.

"Are you sure? Because I'll leave right now with no hard feelings. Really." I avoided Simon's eyes.

"Come with me Gabi." Will held out his hand. I grabbed it tightly and followed him outside. Without looking back, Will lead the way down to a tiny creek at the bottom of his road. It was completely secluded. The two of us sat down on a log in front of the creek and sat in silence. I was happy to be away from Simon after his obvious anger towards me.

"This is my place Gabi. Whenever I am angry, sad, or just want to be in a place that's quiet, I come here." Will looked down at his folded hands on his lap and sighed. "He just doesn't understand Gabi. Simon is the youngest and has seen so much hatred directed at him. It's not his fault really. We try to tell him that not all Germans hate us but he refuses to listen. I hope your not to offended by my foolish little brother. If you are, you don't have to come back here if you don't want to." There was sadness in his voice. I slid closer to him and placed my hands on his.

"Will, I can't say I know how he feels because I don't. But I do know that it doesn't surprise me that he feels some resentment towards me. I want to come back." I smiled over at Will and held his hands tightly.

"I knew you were different Gabi. Your really not like the rest of the world" Will whispered in my ear as he slid his arm around my shoulders. I rested my head on his broad shoulder and watched the sun set.

"Gabi, you should leave now. It's getting late." I awoke still leaning against Will on the log we were sitting on when I felt a gentle shaking on my shoulder.

"Wow, how long have I been asleep?" I asked in an embarrassed voice.

Will chuckled. "Just a half an hour. You should go now though before your parents get worried. You can fall asleep anywhere, can't you?" Will teased.

"Can I come back tomorrow?"

"Sure Gabi. You can come back anytime you want. I'll meet you by our tree at around ten tomorrow morning?"

"Sounds perfect." I wearily stood up and dusted off all the bark and dirt I had been sitting on. I took one last look at the quiet creek before I followed Will back towards the gate where our living spaces were parted. It was after curfew and I knew that he wouldn't be able to walk me home.

"Well, this is as far as I can go Gabi. Will you be alright?" I smiled at him and gave him a playful push.

"I think I can handle myself. You're the one I'm worried about. Will I have to come out later and rescue you again?" I teased.

"Keep dreaming Gabi." I let out a quiet, yet whole hearted laugh. People were usually getting ready for bed at around this time. Time was running out before my parents would start to worry. They knew that when I went for walks I usually go to a friends house. But I didn't want to leave Will. Seconds ticked by in an awkward silence before Will made the first move.

"Goodnight Gabi" Will said as he quickly kissed me on the lips and ran back towards his house. I just stood there, too happy and shocked to move. When I finally snapped out of my trance with him, I ran as fast as I could back to my house.

"Gabi?" My mother sounded worried.

"Yes mother it's me" I answered back. All I wanted to do was buried myself in my room and replay today over and over in my head.

"How was your day today? Where did you go?" I saw my mother come out of the kitchen drying her hands off with an old dish rag.

"Just Adala's. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight mother."

"Goodnight sweetheart." I quickly kissed my mother and ran up stairs. After throwing my pajamas on, I jumped into my bed and laid there, looking up at the ceiling, waiting for tomorrow to come.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After I met Will by our tree, he wanted to bring me back to his house. We had been secretly meeting each other for months now. And each time, I tried to direct him away from his house. All I wanted to do was be with him and him only. But on the rare occasions when we did go to his house, Simon would be there hating me. This time Will told me that only his brothers and sister were there which really made me worry. I still had not forgotten about Simon's hostility towards me and I had no idea what he had up his sleeve now.

After a long but peaceful walk, we were finally at his house. All the warm feelings his house had given me everyday filled inside of me again. Them smells, the look. Everything about the inside of his house was wonderful. When we walked in the door, Talia was sitting at the kitchen table. She greeted me with a huge grin which showed off some of her beautiful features. It was proof that even when living in a place like this, some things just couldn't be taken away.

"Oh, it's so nice to see you again Gabi! You know Will just couldn't stop talking about you last night." I glanced over at Will and noticed he was blushing. "Hey, would you like to go on a walk with me now?"

"Um, sure. Will, do you mind?" Will looked surprised at Talia's suggestion.

"Not at all! Go and have fun." I gave Will a quick kiss on the cheek and followed Talia outside. She was practically dragging me by my arm.

"So where do you want to go?" Talia had a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Where do you go for fun around here?"

"There's a little creek just up there." It was the creek where Will had taken me the day before.

"Sounds perfect." I sensed that Talia really wanted to talk to me.

When we got to the creek, Talia and I started talking about girl things. She was really easy to like. It was like we had been best friends for years. Some of the things she said were so funny I'm pretty sure my parents heard me laughing from there. We chatted about boys and movies and our favorite actresses.

"You know Gabi, I really miss having somebody I can talk to things like this about to. I mean Will and I are really close but mama is really the only other women friend I have. And I diffidently can't talk about these things to Jordan or Simon" she said while braiding my hair.

"Do you have any idea why Simon really doesn't like me? I don't know what I did to make him so angry at me."

"Simon has had a very difficult time since the war, Gabi. Something terrible happened to him just about a year ago." I turned my head around and looked at Talia. She sounded really upset.

"What happened?" I didn't know whether she would want to tell me or not but I had to know why he hated me so much.

"Well, Simon had a girlfriend once. And one day, just walking down the street, two bored Nazis walked up to them and started to harass them. They started hitting on Simon's girlfriend and Simon hit one of the Nazis. In the end, they shot his girlfriend and beat up Simon so badly we all thought he was dead too. He hasn't been the same since. Now he thinks that every German is like the Nazis, but he is very wrong. You are not like them, Gabi." I smiled at her and gave her a big hug. Now everything made sense. I had to talk to him.

"We should head back now. Will's probably getting bored." Talia grabbed my hand and lead me back to her house.

Inside, we both heard yelling coming from one of the bedrooms. When we found them, Jordan was holding Will back from Simon.

"It's your fault! She's going to get us all killed you idiot!" Simon was screaming at the top of his lungs at Will. As he tried to get out of Jordan's strong hold, Will argued back.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST MOVE ON!! Can't you see that not all German's want to kill us!" Will roared back at Simon.

"Just more than half of them Will! Why the hell do you think they threw us in this dump for? Where are all the _good_ German's? Why aren't they helping us now??" The yelling and anger in the room grew. Talia and I just waited outside the door listening to them argue. A lump in my throat grew bigger and bigger each time someone spoke.

"Look Simon, I have finally found someone that I really like and who really likes me back! Why can't you just be happy for me? Or are you just to stubborn to admit that for once in your life, your perspective on the world is WRONG!" Jordan's strength was wearing thin.

"If you want to ruin your life with some stupid German girl that will dump you a week for now, go and have your fun. But when your stupidity puts all of us in danger, that's when I have to do something!" I couldn't hear it anymore. I couldn't stand the fact that I was destroying a family apart. I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. Talia looked at me and wiped them away with her gentle fingers.

"He is just angry Gabi. That's all. In a while when he sees how good you are, he won't mean any of the things he is saying now. I promise." I nodded and tried to stop crying but it was no use. Then I noticed that it got extremely quiet.

"She's not worth it Will. Why can't you see that?" The level of anger in Simon's voice had gone down. His voice sounded more calm now.

I just stood there behind the wall of the bedroom waiting for someone to say something. Then Simon walked out of the room followed by Jordan. Simon just shook his head back and forth at me.

"I can't wait until your parents find out what your doing. And you know what else I can't wait for, when the Nazis come and arrest us all and shoot us for conspiracy with other non-Jews." He started to laugh hysterically at me. "OH, I JUST CAN'T WAIT!" As soon as he said this, he stormed off into another room. Talia followed him in and I could tell that she was going to calm him down. I couldn't hold in my sadness any longer. I saw Jordan flash me a look of pure sympathy.

"I'm so sorry Gabi" was all he said before leaving me alone in the hallway. I slowly made my way into the room where Will was. He lifted his head from his hands and stared at me.

"Please tell me that you didn't hear all of that." I wiped away the last of my tears and sat down beside him on a tiny bed.

"I heard it all, Will. And I want to go and talk to him. Maybe if I can just speak with him, that might help him see the real side of me."

"My brother is such an idiot. Ever since-"

"I know Will. I know what happened. And I'm not mad at him. Let me just talk to him."

I got up to leave and made my way towards the room where Simon was. I knocked three times on the old, wooden door. Talia opened it. No words needed to be said. She let me in and shut the door behind her. Simon saw me making my way towards him and rolled his eyes. He was sitting on another tiny, ragged bed staring at me. I sat down next to him far enough away so I wouldn't anger him anymore than I already had.

"You know Simon, I really like your brother. And they would have to shoot me too before I would let them do anything to him or any of you." He rolled his eyes again. "I don't talk with my parents anymore. Ever since the war, they have become totally different people. Not like how they used to be. So I know for a fact, just like you, people change under certain circumstances. I'm pretty sure that they couldn't give a damn where I spend my days."

"Just who you spend them with, right?" Simon snapped back at me.

"Yes! But you can't go your whole life feeling the same way about a certain group of people because that makes you just the same as them! You can't fix your past but you can help your future. If you go on living like this, hating a group of people because of only a few, then your going to trust nobody. You'll hate the world, Simon." He turned his head and looked at me with an expression I had never seen before on him. It looked like he was finally seeing past the fact that I was German. He was beginning to see me as a separate person. Different.

"I know what happened to her. But you have to realize that I am not like the others. I think, no, I believe that punishing an entire mass of people for reasons that are absurd is STUPID! That's why I'm here. Now, you can go on hating me and every single German on earth, or you except me as not a German, but a person. A girl that loves your brother very much." I waited for his response. My tone had grown more and more frustrated while I tried to talk with him. I never really got mad, but I really wanted us to get along.

Simon cleared his throat and stood up. He walked over to his little dresser in the corner of the room and pulled out something. It was a picture. He came back and sat down closer to me and handed me the picture.

"This is her. This is my Margot. It happened last year. We both were just sixteen when the Nazis killed her." The women in the picture was absolutely beautiful. She had long black hair and rosy cheeks. The pictured showed her modeling a big sun hat.

"Simon, she's beautiful." I gave him back the picture.

"Yeah, she is. We spent everyday together, kinda like you and Will are doing now. Her family didn't like me very much because whenever we went out, we would come back with rips in our clothes and grass stains on our knees." He sighed a long deep sigh. "She loved to be free when she was with me. At her house, her parents always taught her not to get dirty, or to climb trees. But when we were together, that's all we did."

I could tell that at only seventeen, Simon had experienced what happiness really was. "You really loved her?" I read his face for my answer.

"So much Gabi. So you can understand why I have felt this way for so long." He looked at me and smiled. "But now" another sigh "I can finally let go of the past and focus on now."

We both smiled. Finally, I had gotten Simon to like me. I leaned in for a hug. To my surprise, he hugged me back. When I looked at him again, I noticed he was crying.

"I miss her so much" he whispered.

"I know Simon."

That night, I told Will what had happened. It was like taking a load off my chest because now I wouldn't have to worry about going there anymore. I had finally made peace with Will's entire family.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

It was three o'clock when I woke up from gun shots and yelling. It sounded as if it were coming from far away but I could still feel the tremors from the gun shots. Then I started to hear screaming. My mother and father came bursting through my bedroom door and quickly locked it behind them.

"Mother, what's going on?!" The gun shots and screaming became louder. And it seemed to get closer to us. "Where is it coming from?" Both my parents peered out the window and gazed at the scene outside. I had a feeling that whatever was going on outside was terrible because my mother had her hand covering her mouth.

"Just stay there Gabriele. There finally evacuating the Jewish ghetto. It's about time!" My father threw his hands in the air and hugged my mother. I was appalled. How could my parents celebrate such a horrific event. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Will! The screams and shots sounded like it was coming where he lived.

"Where are they taking them?" I ran out of my bed and to my father. "WHERE ARE THEY TAKING THEM!!!" I shook my fathers shoulders vigorously. A look of surprise was on his face.

"Gabriele, calm down. They won't come for us. They are just taking those Jews to the labor camps across Germany." I couldn't believe it. I felt tears welling up in my eyes but I could expose to my parents that I felt sympathy. I walked over to my bed and sat down, letting the screams of families and screeching of truck tires fill my mind.

"Please God, let him be alive" I whispered to myself. "Keep him and his family safe."

Finally after an hour of torture, the guns and screams finally stopped. It was so quiet. Nobody dared to move for fear of breaking the silence.

"Get some sleep darling." My mother came over to my bed side and tried to kiss the top of my forehead, but I backed away. I didn't want her to come near me after what I heard her say during the evacuation of the ghetto. I avoided her painful gaze and dug my face into my pillow. When I heard the door shut behind her, I let out a pain stricken scream into my pillow. My grief was soon replaced by anger. I began hitting my pillow with all my might, again and again. I hit it until my hands hurt.

Some how in all my anger and pain, I managed to fall asleep. I awoke again, but this time not from gunshots or screams. It was from a tapping on my window just beside my bed. The tapping sounded like little pebbles being thrown at my window. I threw the covers off and slowly drew the curtains. There, standing below my window was Will. Another person was leaning on him for support. Will had both his arms wrapped around the injured persons waist. I had to stare at him for a few seconds to make sure he was really there. When he motioned for me to come outside I quickly grabbed my jacket from my closet and locked my bedroom door. I opened my window slowly so my parents wouldn't hear me and jumped down onto the cold, wet grass.

"Will! What happened? Simon!" I took Simon's limp arm and threw it around my shoulder. Carefully, I lead them over to my backyard and under our porch. I remembered how when ever I was playing hide-and-seek with my mother and father, I wouldn't go any place but here. It was dark and big.

"Will, where's the rest of your family?" We laid Simon down on his back. He was bleeding from his nose and mouth and kept falling in and out of consciousness. When I finally looked at Will, I saw tears streaming down his face. He had his head in his hands and was quietly sobbing. I crawled over to him and took his head between my hands.

"Dead. All of them! They killed my entire family Gabi!" I had to put my hand over his mouth to keep him from yelling. "My mother hid me under the floor boards, I tried to get them to come in with me but there was no time! They thought Simon was dead, and I heard them shoot-" Will couldn't finish. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to calm him down the way my mother used to do with me. I rocked him back and forth and stroked the back of his head.

"What am I going to do now Gabi? What!" Will was almost crushing my with his arms around my body, but I didn't care. I had no idea what to tell him. All I know is that the second anyone finds out they are here, I'm going to be in big trouble.

"Ok, Will listen to me. You have to do everything I say. I need you and Simon to be as quiet as you can. If my parents hear you they will send you away." I had to think of something, and quick. "Um, you and Simon will hide here under my porch. I will be right back with some things. Stay here just like last time." I ran back to my room and grabbed any blankets and pillows I could find. I also grabbed some bandages and a bowl of water from my bathroom.

It seemed like forever, but eventually I made it back outside and under my porch. Simon was still sleeping and Will just sat there, staring into space. Physically he was there but mentally he was wasn't.

"Will, can you help me with Simon? Here, hold his head up like this to stop the bleeding." I waited for Will to help me but instead, he just sat there and ignored me. "Will, please. I can't do this without help." Will looked at me and nodded.

"Sorry" he whispered "I was thinking."

"About what?"

"Where we are going to go. Gabi, you and I both know Simon and I can't stay here!" He took my face between his hands. "I am **not** going to do that to you."

"Will, I want you and Simon to stay here. Please, Will. Nobody's going to know that you're here because we never even sit out on our porch anymore."

I studied Will's face for any sign of emotion. At first he looked furious, but then his expression turned into sadness. I felt so bad for him. His whole world was collapsing in front of him all in a matter of hours. I couldn't argue with him anymore.

"Fine. Can you stay just for a couple of days. And then you can find another place to stay. But for now, please just stay here."

I laid out all the blankets I had into a giant square. With Will's help, we moved Simon onto the blankets and tried our best to get him comfortable. In a basket I left bread, water, face clothes, two first aid kits, and a large hunting knife.

"Will, I can get you a gun" I whispered. I saw Simon shift in uneasiness.

"No, no, Gabi this is fine." Will brushed his hand across my cheek. "You have done so much already." He smirked.

I wanted Will to have a gun more than anything. With a gun he could protect himself. But also, if he would ever have to actually use the gun, somebody would obviously know of them.

"Alright, Will I will be back here tomorrow morning. I'll have more supplies then." I hugged Will close to me. I could feel his arms tighten around my waist.

"Thank you so much Gabi." And just like the night before, our lips touched. This time it was for more than a second, and wasn't so awkward. This time it was longer and more gentle.

"Goodnight Gabi" he finally said to me.

"Goodnight Will. Goodnight Simon. Try to keep as quiet as you can." After one last glance, I crawled out from under the porch and tip-toed back into my room.

It wasn't until I had opened my window and climbed back into my bedroom that I saw my mother glaring at me from across the room. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was staring at me with hatred in her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Where the hell have you been at this time at night?"

I tried to find a reasonable answer but nothing came to my mind quick enough. I knew that I would probably be thrown out of my own home if I told her the truth. But then where would that leave Will and Simon. I had a job to protect them and that is all I cared about now.

"Well, after what just happened, I needed some fresh air. How did you know I was gone, mother?" I started biting on my finger nails, as I always did whenever I was nervous about something.

"I came in to check up on you. I wanted to see if you were alright but now I know that you think of yourself as an adult that can just sneak out whenever they feel the need to." She snapped back at me. "So starting tomorrow you will be working after school instead of taking your walks for hours. If that is in fact what you really do." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Now how was I supposed to spend time taking care of Will and Simon?

"Mother please! My walks are the only thing that's keeps me going! It's the only time when I can let all my problems and fears fly away!" I choked out. "What has happened to you and papa? You guys are not the same people you were before the war!" And I meant every word I said. I would walk for hours sometimes because it's when I could be myself in public.

"Gabriele! I have not raised you to speak to me in that tone! I am your mother and you will obey me!" My mother was practically screaming at me. "How could you just go outside in the middle of the night without asking us first?"

At that time, my father appeared in the door way. He had a frustrated look on his face.

"What on earth is going on?" He stood next to my mother in his pajamas glaring at me. "Gabriele, what have you done?" Now they were both yelling at me which made me even more nervous.

"I just went out for a walk papa. I wasn't gone for more than ten minutes." Tears filled my eyes. "Now mother is punishing me by making me get a job after school so I have no time for myself!"

I saw my father roll his eyes. "Gabriele, you can not just go outside whenever you want to! And you know what else I heard, the neighbors across the road told me that they swore they saw you walking towards the Jewish ghetto. Is that true Gabriele?" I swear that I heard my heart stop. I really thought that my secret would be out then and there.

"Papa, come on! Why would I be near the Jewish _**living quarters**_? I only walk around our own neighborhood." I didn't think that he would believe me but he did.

"Gabriele, if you go near that ghetto, you will be in BIG trouble. Do you hear me? And tomorrow you will be working until late at night. You want to act like an adult, then you will."

"But papa!"

"Hush Gabriele!" I felt a swift, sharp slap come across my face nearly knocking me to the ground. I held my right cheek with my hand and stared at my father in disbelief. What had happened to him? To both of my parents? This war is changing everyone into monsters no matter how well you think you know them.

"Get to bed" he whispered before leaving my room with my mother following close behind. I wanted to run away. I would have packed all my things in my suitcase and left if it wasn't for Will and Simon. I had to find somewhere else for them to hide and soon.

When I woke up the next morning, I got dressed and left for school without even noticing my parents. I could still feel the area where my father had slapped me. I had just about enough of this stupid war. It has so far destroyed my family, Will's and countless others.

I had left about a half an hour early so I would have time to see Will to ask how his first night was. Inside my back pack, I had snuck out more food and supplies for them. When I crawled under my porch, I noticed that Will and Simon were still sleeping. I tried to be as quiet as I could when I unpacked everything, but somehow Simon had woken up. He tried to sit up but I gently held him down. He was still in really bad shape.

"Simon, go back to sleep. Nobody knows you are here" I whispered to him. He held out his hand and motioned for me to come closer to him.

"Your cheek is red and swollen Gabi. They hit you didn't they?" Simon's eyes burned with anger. I smiled at him and told him that I had just walked into my door last night when I went home.

"It was very dark last night. And I didn't want to turn any lights on so my parents wouldn't know I had just been out." I tried to sound as confident as I could but I knew he didn't believe me. I could feel a lump forming in my throat.

"Gabi" he asked quietly. "Did they know you were out last night?" Simon's beautiful hazel eyes widen with nervousness. "They found out didn't they. And then they hit you, right?" I tried so hard, but I couldn't stop myself from crying. I had saved all my tears from last night and now they had to be released.

"Yes, but they don't know that you guys are here. They were just angry at me because I went outside without their permission." I dabbed my face with my shirt. "My parents never used to yell at me before the war. And they would never even think about hitting me! God, what is happening to the world?" I threw a tiny pebble that I had been holding in my hand into my yard.

"You know what's wrong with the world, Gabi. One man and all his followers are trying to rule it. And while trying to do that, they are eliminating anyone they think are not part of their _perfect race_."

I looked over at Will. He was sifting in his sleep. He looked peaceful when he slept. It was a nice change to all the panic and anger I had seen come from him.

I hadn't noticed that I had been talking with Simon for about an hour and school had already begun.

"Oh, I forgot about school! Simon, I'm going to be late!" I quickly grabbed my back pack and raced to school. I was running at full speed to school and by the time I reached it, class was almost done.

"Sorry Mrs. Danvers. I had lost track of time."

"Don't let it happen again Gabi." I loved my teacher Mrs. Danvers. She was the only other women apart from my mother that I could tell anything too. We had a lot in common. She thought that this war had gone far enough and wanted it to stop.

I had known Mrs. Danvers since kindergarten. She was like an aunt to me because her and my mother are best friends. I remember nights when she would come over and all three of us would go to the theatre. We wouldn't come back until late at night and by that time, my mother would half to carry me home. But that was then and this is now. We never go to the theatre any more. Mother has seen too many Jews go to the theatre we used to go to and now she thinks it is "**unclean**".

Class that day had gone by quickly. That must have been because I couldn't stop thinking about Will and Simon under my porch. _What if mother wants to clean under there today and she STOP! Gabi you are only worrying yourself for nothing. She hasn't gone under there for years, so why would she now?! _I had to get help from someone I could trust. Someone I knew showed the same kind of compassion as I did for the Jews. But who? Then I thought of the perfect person to tell. Mrs. Danvers.

After the bell rang after class that day, I waited for everyone to leave before I walked up to her desk.

"Mrs. Danvers?" I pulled a chair out for myself and sat down. "Can I tell you something. And I need for you to swear that you won't tell anyone. I have to get help from other people I can trust to help me with some people."

"What is it dear? Are you in trouble. Because you know that you can tell me anything." I looked at her with such relief in my heart. I loved her I know she loved me and would help me with anything.

"Well, I have two Jews living, hiding, under my porch." I watched her eye brows raise on her face and lips tighten. "Their names are Will and Simon. They are my age and have no one else but me now. But I think that they might be caught by my parents so I need another place to hide them until things wear down at my house and my parents stop being so suspicious about me." I tried to say it all in one breath so I wouldn't have to stop and look at her face.

Mrs. Danvers shifted in her seat and folded her hands over mine.

"Gabi, I have known you since you were born. You know I would help you if I could, but how did you get into all of this? Where am I supposed to hide them?"

"Well, um, I was hoping that you would know that. But please Mrs. Danvers, if you can't help me then don't tell anyone else." I squeezed her hands tightly. "I think I'm in love with one of them and if anything were to happen to him I think I would die." Her eyes darted to me and flashed a sign of frustration.

"Gabi, do you know what they do to people who help Jews! They send not only the Jews they hide, but the _**you too**_, to the concentrations camps in Germany! And you are not a little girl anymore, you are eighteen so you will be thought of as an adult. And as an adult, you will be given the adult punishment." Her voice was shaking with fear.

"Don't you think that I know that already! What did you expect me to do? I came here to you asking and praying that you would help me, but now I just need you to forget everything I said to you!"

I stormed off, out of the classroom, and started walking down the hall. That's when I heard the clacking of heels follow me.

"Gabi! Wait!" I stopped and turned around to her. "Fine. Bring them to my home tonight at twelve o'clock." That's all she said to me before hurrying home.

I clasped my hands over my mouth to keep from shouting out in joy. I knew that I could trust her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

I hurried home to tell Will and Simon the news. I had no idea how they would respond to it but I had nothing else to do. My parents were becoming more and more suspicious of me as each day passes by. And the fact that I had not yet gotten a job really upset them. I managed to squeeze in a lie to them saying that I had been too busy with all my school work to get a job. Somehow they believed me but still didn't trust me.

As I crawled under my dirt coated porch, I noticed a strange sound coming from deep within my porch. It sounded like someone or something was gasping for air. I crawled on my knees further and further until I had reached the source of the horrible sound.

"He needs medical treatment Gabi. He won't make it through the night" Will whispered to me. He was crouched over Simon, dabbing a wet towel over his head and whispering something to him in a language I didn't know.

"Will, tonight I have a different place for you and Simon to hide. It is no longer safe here anymore because my parents know I'm up to something." I saw the horror in Will's face grow as I continued to tell him my plan. "Her name is Catyia Danvers and I have known her since I was born. I know I can trust her with keeping you and Simon safe."

"Are you sure Gabi?" Will's voice was hoarse from such long periods of not being able to talk.

"She seemed very interested in the idea and I know her. She… thinks the same way as I do. She always has."

"What about Simon? He can't walk and I will not leave him here alone." He stroked Simon's head and continued to whisper encouraging words to him.

I shook my head in agreement. "Tonight at twelve o'clock, you and I will carry Simon to Mrs. Danvers home."

As soon as I said this, Will had an emotional break down. He began crawling out from under the porch yelling and screaming. I chased him out into my yard and into the forest that surrounded my neighborhood. He ran at full speed towards nowhere. I tried to catch him and calm him down but he was just too crazy. Finally he stopped and turned towards me.

"Gabi, I can't do this anymore! I WISH I WAS DEAD RIGHT NOW! AT LEAST THEN I WOULD BE WITH THE REST OF MY FAMILY! I can't live this way any more! This isn't living Gabriele!" Will kicked a large oak tree furiously with his foot.

I tried my hardest not to say anything to him. He needed to let out all the pain that had built up inside of him.

"Why did this happen Gabi?" Will fell to his knees hard. He buried his head in his hands and kept asking why all of this had to happen. I felt terrible. How do I explain the reason for all the hatred he has felt towards him.

"Will" I whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry that all this has happened to you, I really am. But I refuse to hear you say that you want to die, when I am risking my life everyday and trying to keep you alive." I lifted Will's chin up with my hand and threw my arms around him. "Your mother" tears fell down my face, "Your mother gave up her own life to save yours. So how could you say that. It would have all been for nothing." I dug my face into his neck. I could feel his arms tighten around my waist. "And what about us?"

Later that night, Will had finally calmed down and the two of us began packing for our trip to Mrs. Danvers. There wasn't much to pack, but somehow all our hands were carrying something. Around my shoulder, I helped Simon crawl out from underneath my porch and into the night time air. I saw him close his eyes and whisper something into the air.

"When all this is over, I'm going to live outside so I can breath in this air all the time" Simon whispered to Will and I. His eyes winced and sparkled just as bright as the stars above us. "When all this is over, Gabi."

It was only a short distance from our house to Mrs. Danver's house. But with Simon clinging to us, it seemed miles away. We managed to cross the first street towards the giant field towards Mrs. Danver's house. The corn field was the only thing blocking our way. That and other people's eyes.

"It's just across this field" I said to Will. He turned his head to me and nodded. I noticed a hint of depression in his eyes.

I could feel the sweat dripping down my face. Simon still couldn't walk so it was up to Will and I to practically carry him. Simon's grip around my neck was loosening and he was loosing consciousness quickly. I used up every ounce of my energy to keep him from falling.

We were crossing the field when I heard a voice coming from behind us. It sounded like a women's. I began to panic. If I was caught by someone with Will and Simon, I would probably be shot.

"Get down!" Will told me. We laid Simon down and then crouched down on our knees under the tall corn stalks. The voices began to get closer and closer as time passed by. I held my hand over my mouth to muffle my heavy breathing. Will crawled over to me and put his hands around my waist. He rested his chin on my head and tried to stop me from shaking. I had never been so scared before in my life until that moment. When I hid Simon and Will at my house, it was different because the only people that were around their hiding place was mama and papa. And deep down inside, despite how much they have changed, they would have never turned me in.

"Gabi!" I heard my name and immediately knew who it was. I popped my head out from under the corn stalks.

"Mrs. Danver's? Is that you?" I squinted my eyes to see in the dark if it was really her.

""Yes, yes! Come this way! The Nazis are patrolling this entire area!"

As soon as she said that, Simon was back around our shoulder's and we were walking towards her. She smiled as soon as she saw us. This gave me great satisfaction.

"I was so afraid they would have caught you, Gabi." She put both of her hands on my cheeks and smiled at me again warmly.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Danver's." Hot, salty tears ran down my face.

"Quickly this way." She lead us to her home that was no more than fifty feet away. It was hiding between many trees and bushes which was good. She opened the door for us and helped us in. Her house was just as I remembered it. The feeling when you entered it was almost as good as the one Will's house had. A warm fire sparked in the corner of the living room.

"Lay him down over there Gabi" Mrs. Danver's said. "I'll go get you guys some food and clothing." Mrs. Danver's hurried off into another room. He pace was quick and sharp.

"Does anyone else live with her?" Will said while wiping his face with his dirty, old shirt.

"No. Her husband died last year and she never had any children or family. She's lived by herself for some time now. I know she'll take care of you guys very well. And I will come back here as much as I can to see you." I flashed him a gentle smile and put my arms around his neck. "Nothing bad will happen to you here. I promise you Will."

"Here you go." Mrs. Danver's stood behind us and held out some clothes for Will and Simon. "They were my husbands, but I will let you wear them." My heart almost broke in half. Her head hung low and tears welled in her eyes. Will stood up and walked towards her. He looked at her and smiled.

"Thank you Mrs. Danver's" was all he said. He hugged her tightly. It looked like he would crush her because he was so much bigger than her. Mrs. Danvers had always been relatively small compared to anyone.

"Oh, that reminds me. Don't call me by my real name. I think it would be safer if you called me Leah. That was my mother's name and I have always liked it better than Catyia." She smiled to herself and then looked up at me. "And I will not call you Gabriele either. What name would you like me to call you?" Her forehead creased in a thinking position.

"Yvetta." I looked over at Will. Yvetta had been his mother's name.

"That's a beautiful name. I will call you Yvetta now, alright?" She laid down the clothes she had brought and left the room.

"Gabi, I have something to ask you." Will walked over to me and sat down next to me on _**Leah's**_ couch. He had a giant smile over his face as he took my hands in his. The room was silent except for the crackling of the fire in front of us. "I love you. And I will always love you. Do you love me too?" His beautiful face studied mine.

"Of course I do, Will." He stroked my hands gently with his.

"Then… will you marry me, Gabriele?" I blinked my eyes and grew stiff on the old, green colored couch. I thought about all Will and I had been through and how much I loved being with him. Simon lifted himself up and hobbled over to us.

"Yes" I whispered to him. I fell into his arms and started laughing. I had never been so happy before. Even though we were only eighteen, I knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with each other.

I felt Will kiss the top of my head and join in with me laughing. I turned to Simon.

"Well, I guess I'm your new sister-in-law!" He smiled at me and kissed both my cheeks.

"Mazal Tov to you both. I knew you two were meant for each other." He hugged his brother, patted him on the back and returned to his spot by the fire. When I turned back over to Will, he was holding a silver ring to me. I was speechless. Where did he get a real silver ring from?

"I wanted to ask you at just the perfect time. And I think that time is now, my love." I held out my shaky hand as Will slipped the ring on my finger. It was a perfect fit. "It was my grandmother's ring, Gabi. I told my mama and papa the night before they were killed that I wanted to marry you, and they gave their blessings and this ring to me. My mama handed it to me and told me that I couldn't have picked a better person to marry." From the look in his eyes, I could tell that he was thinking about his mama and papa.

"I want you to have this one, Will. This is the ring that my parents bought me when I was born." My gold ring was my most favored treasure I had and I always wore it. But now Will was my most favored treasure in my life and I wanted him to have it as a wedding ring. I slipped it on his soft finger. I had always worn it on a necklace because of the fact that it was too big. But it fit just as perfectly as mine on him.

"Who will marry us, Will?" All the rabbi's in the area were gone as well as all the synagogues and no Christian priests would marry us.

"As long as we love each other and vow to be husband and wife for the rest of our lives… that's all we need." Will held my hand and smiled at me. "And after the wedding, we will have a big party!" Both our eyes grew wide with excitement.

"Simon, will you be our witness?" All of us laughed.

"I guess if I'm they only other person" he said. "I witness that you two are officially husband and wife." All of my happiness came to a sudden halt. I had just married a Jewish man, meaning that it was tradition to become the same faith as the husband. I had to make a decision.

"My name will now be Gabriele _Kaiser._ Mr. and Mrs. Kaiser. I will become a loyal Jewish woman."

"Gabi, you don't have to do that. You can remain Christian and I Jewish. This can be one exception to the rules." He sounded worried. We both knew that if the Nazis found out that I had married a Jewish man, changed my last name to a Jewish one, and actually become Jewish, I would be known as a traitor and be sent away with the rest of the Jews.

"I want to carry on the faith Will. If Judaism is lost because of this war, then I want to be the one to help restore it." No words could describe what I was feeling. Something on the lines of happiness, and worry.

"Alright. You will become Gabriele Kaiser. You will be my wife and I will be your husband."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The next day at school, everything went as usual. Leah, as I was now supposed to call her, was very good at hiding things. Although sometimes I would look up from my desk and see her staring at me with worried eyes. At first it made me worried as well, but eventually I would just flash her a reassuring smile.

Life at home was getting worse. I felt a lot better now though that Will and Simon were not under our porch any more. It would allow my parents to gain a little more trust in me. But each time I came home from school, my mother and father would just look at me with disappointment in their eyes. Ever since that night when I had sneaked out of my house to help Will, they always thought that I was up to something.

"Gabi" my parents called to me in unison.

I threw my back pack on the floored and sighed as I made my way to the kitchen. "What?" I glared at them. "What do you _**think**_ I have done wrong now?" My answer sounded ten times worse out loud than it did in my mind.

"Mrs. Danvers called." I tried hard to hide the excitement in my eyes. "She says that you had left some school work at school and she needs you to pick it up at her house." My mothers voice no longer had the beautiful wind chime essence to it. Her lips barely moved when she spoke to me. "And can you bring this to her while your there. I was going to go myself but I see no need if _your_ going now." I avoided her gaze as I reached my hands out and took the package in my arms. It was wrapped in paper and tied with an old, woolen string.

"What is it?" I asked, fumbling the strange package in my hands.

"Just take it to her Gabi! Why must you always question everything that crosses your path?" My father snapped at me. I felt like crying right then and there in front of him, but I knew better not to do that.

I flashed one more painful look at my parents and headed out the door. I was so happy that I had such a great excuse to go see Simon and Will that my fathers harsh words toward me flew out of my mind. I knew that I would have probably ended up sneaking out at night like I had done for the past week, but this time it felt good. I didn't have to worry about my parents knowing where I was.

I made my way towards the corn field that surrounded Leah's house and stopped. I had just realized that I was still in my horrible, boring school outfit. This is not the side of me that I wanted Will to see. I wanted him to see the real, fun, outgoing girl that I really am. So, I ripped out the red ribbon that held my hair up in a tight bun and let my blond curls fall around my face. I took off the checkered vest I had on and rolled up the sleeves of my white blouse underneath. I folded my knee high socks down to my ankles and ran towards Leah's house.

I could see the smoke billowing up from the tiny chimney. I knocked three times on the door, so anxious to see my soon to be husband. I couldn't stop moving. It was a habit I had. Whenever I was very excited about something, I would bounce up and down on the balls of my feet. But all my excitement and happiness was quickly lost when Leah opened the door and I got a good look at her face. Tears stained her face and made her look flushed. Something was very wrong.

"What happened?" I couldn't wait for her response. I pushed my way past her and ran to the room Will and Simon stayed. I threw opened the door and made it slam against the wall.

"Oh, Will" I whispered. He held Simon's limp body in his arms. All the color was lost from Simon's face and I knew what had happened. I ran behind Will and slid my arms around his back. Will eyes were closed tightly but I could see he was crying.

"He's with Margot" I chocked out in Will's ear. "That's all he ever wanted, Will." I felt his heart beat against my chest.

"He's all I had left Gabi" he said in a almost none audible voice. "I am his big brother and I should have taken care of him better. I should have-"

"Will, listen to me. Simon died because the Nazis had beaten him up and broke almost every bone in his body. You did your best." I rested my forehead on the back of his neck and sighed.

Leah knocked lightly on the door. "Will, I'm so sorry." She wiped a tear with the back of her hand and looked up at us. Large, grey circles outlined her eyes. "There's a little public cemetery just a few minutes from here. It's almost as old as Germany itself so nobody ever goes there anymore." Her voice was small and low. Will didn't look up at her. He just kept his eyes on his little brother's still, pale face.

"Will" I said. "Lets go." I kissed the back of his neck and shook his shoulder lightly. He turned his face just inches from mine. I touched his cheek gently with the tip of my fingers.

"Someday, I promise, this will all end." I ran my fingers through Will's soft hair.

"You know what Gabi, I starting to think that this will never end. Hatred will always be there. It will always kill and hurt and brake apart people." He lowered his head to his brothers face and gently kissed his forehead.

"Do you want me to do it Will?" I couldn't stand seeing the heart break in his eyes.

"No. I should do this Gabi." I nodded my head and stood up. Will stood up behind me and carefully picked up his brother. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how small Simon really was. I guess his attitude towards life and wild spirit made him seem a lot bigger than any person I knew.

That night, after we had buried Simon, I decided to stay later than usual at Leah's house. All any of us could do was cry. After a few hours in silence, Will stood up and took my hand.

"Come with me Gabi?" He asked in a gentle voice.

"Of course" I said.

He lead outside into the brisk night air. I could feel his hand tighten on mine and he pulled me further and further into the corn field that surrounded the house. I started to get a little worried because I had never been so far out into the field before. Leah's house soon disappeared behind us.

"Will, what's going on?" I tugged at his arm but he just ignored me and pulled me deeper and deeper into the endless path of corn stalks. Finally we stopped in front of a place that I had never been before. It looked so familiar but I couldn't think of where I had seen it. Will turned to me and smiled.

"Do you remember this place?" He placed a warm arm around my shoulder and held me tightly against his chest.

"Yes" I whispered. This was the creek that Will had brought me to when we first started seeing each other. Only from an opposite direction. It had been months since I had been here with him. It made me think of when I had accidentally fallen asleep on his shoulder watching the sun set.

"I have been here everyday since we have met. From what ever side it may be, I have always been here. This is where I feel most connected to everyone in my life…especially you. " He lifted my face to his and kissed me gently on the lips. His lips were warm and soft.

"Can we sit down?" I really wanted to make the moment last forever. That and the fact that my heart was beating so quickly I thought I would faint.

"Sure" he said, giving me one of his half smiles which I loved so much. I laid down next to him on the cool grass and snuggled up close to my husband.

"I'm sorry that you will not have the wedding party that you have always wanted Gabi. I know for a fact that they would have loved to be there." Will's voice was broken as he said the last sentence.

"Well, I know my parents won't be there either. I haven't even told them anything. They have no idea about what I have done for you." I dug my face into Will's strong, brood shoulder. He rested his chin on top of my head and sighed a deep, sorrowful sigh. "We will make it, right Will?" I always stayed confident when talking to Will, but now it seemed like everything was falling apart.

"Yes, Gabi. You have me and I would never let anything ever happen to you. You are my wife and I will protect you from anything, including _**all**_ the Nazis in Germany. Your safe with me Gabi. Do you trust me?" I looked up and Will and smiled.

"I trust you" I whispered as I pulled myself up to his eye level and started kissing him. I felt his big, muscular hands slide up my back and to my shoulder blades. Goosebumps coated my arms. I ran my fingers through his hair. I could feel his gentle, warm lips travel down my jaw to my neck. We had never kissed like this before. There was so much more passion between our two bodies that nothing could ever part.

And that night, by the creek where we used to watch the sunset day after day, our two bodies became one in the final symbol of our love for each other.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It was late when I had finally gotten back home. I braced myself for the arguing to begin as soon as I opened the door and saw my mother with her hands on her hips, but this time she just stared at me with a calm look on her face.

"How was Mrs. Danver?" She looked at me like it was a oratorical question.

"She was fine. I really needed help on some homework so she let me stay for a couple more hours. I ate dinner there too." I didn't feel like talking with her.

"Alright. Go to bed now Gabi." As soon as she had said that, I ran up the stairs and locked my bedroom door behind me.

I sprawled out on top of my bed thinking about that night and how wonderful it had been. I was finally a women. A married women with a committed and loving husband. Nothing could have ruined my happiness. I wanted to run back to Leah's house and spend the entire night with Will, but if my parents caught me sneaking out one more time, I would have been tied to my bed with chains.

Weeks went by until I finally noticed a change in my body. I had just celebrated my twentieth birthday two months after Will had, when I felt a nauseas feeling in the pit of my stomach. I thought that it might have been cramps from the fact that my period had not yet happened that month. I tried not to think of the pains in my stomach, saying over and over to myself that it was just from all the worrying I did about Will. Ever since Simon's death, something had died in him. He wasn't depressed, but a spark that I used to see in his eyes was no longer there. I would have done anything to bring it back.

I was sitting at my desk by my window one day when all of a sudden I thought of what the date was. It had been six weeks since I had finished my last menstrual cycle. That could only mean one thing. I was pregnant. The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I had always wanted to have a family and children with Will but now was not the time. Everyday, more and more Jews were being thrown into trains and shipped off to unknown destinations.

Now I knew why I had been having craving for foods I never usually ate and had terribly painful stomach aches. I burst into tears onto of my bed. I had no idea how Will would respond to this. Would he want a child? We had never even talked about it. But we were an adult married couple. Just nobody but us and Leah knew.

I had to get to Will's house immediately and tell him the news.

"I'm going out for a walk and I'll be back in a few hours!" I yelled to my parents as I slammed the door behind me.

I didn't run this time. I walked slowly and tried my hardest to stop the tears from pouring down my face. Inside, I was so happy and excited that I was having a baby, but on the outside I was terrified. How was I supposed to explain that to my parents? They would eventually find out sooner or later. I would then have to tell them that I was married to a Jewish man who I desperately loved with all my heart and had converted to the religion.

I walked slowly to Leah's house, rubbing my stomach with my hand, and knocked on the door. Leah answered it with a big smile across her face. She was in a great mood today. Her cheeriness helped me relax a little.

"Hello Gabi, my dear!" She hugged me tightly. "How have you been? Why, you haven't been here in days. Will's starting to worry about you." She put an arm around my shoulder and lead me to the room in the back of the house where Will stayed.

"Thank you so much Leah. I never really did thank you for everything you have done for us." Her eyes grew wide with confusion.

"Gabi, I would have done it no matter what. I couldn't let a pair so much in love as yourself and Will go to waste." I smiled once more at her and tapped gently on the door in front of me.

Will laid sleeping on his bed. He looked so peaceful that I almost didn't want to wake him up. But this was important.

"Sweetie" I whispered in his ear. He shifted a little and then opened his eyes and smiled up at me.

"I can't wait until I can wake up to see your face everyday like this, Gabi." He lifted up one of his arms and motioned me to lie down next to him. I eagerly snuggled up beside him and took in a deep breath.

"Will, I have something to tell you." He must have sensed my nervousness because he turned his head down to me and lifted my chin to his face.

"What is it?" He stroked my chin gently and looked into my eyes. "Did your parents find out about us?" I tried to tell him that he was wrong, but the words couldn't come out. "We should leave right now then Gabi!" He quickly jumped up out of his bed and paced around the floor.

"Will" I said. But he ignored me.

"Come, lets just go somewhere far from here where it is still safe for Jews." He looked out the window and then at me.

"Will" I said again.

"It's not too late Gabi. If we leave now---"

"WILL!" I shouted at him. "No one knows you're here or about us!" The expression on his face went from horror to curiosity in a matter of seconds.

"What is it then?" He sat down beside me and rubbed my back. He knew I was in trouble and worrying about something big.

"Will… I'm pregnant" I whispered. I tried so hard not to cry in front of him but somehow the tears fell from my eyes. Will looked at me in disbelief.

It was silent for a long time until Will wrapped his arms around my entire body and hugged me hard. I though that he might crack my rib cage but just as I was about to start complaining, he pulled away from me with a huge grin across his face. I thought he was crying but it turned out that he was laughing. Tears welled in his eyes. The sparkle that had died with Simon was now back.

"Oh Gabi! This is the most wonderful news I have heard in such a long time! I'm going to be a father!" Will acted like he was two years old, jumping up and down and cheering at the top of his lungs. He couldn't stop kissing me and hugging me, telling me that we were finally going to be a family.

"Will, your ok with this?" I was getting just as excited as he was by now.

"Am I ok with this? Gabriele, you have made me the most happiest man alive! I could not ask for anything more precious than a little baby now!" I threw myself at him and buried my face in his shoulder. The two of us laughed so hard and loud that it was only a matter on minutes before Leah came in asking what was wrong.

"I'M GOING TO BE A FATHER!!" Will shouted as he threw both arms around Leah and picked her up. I laughed out loud when I saw Will hug her so hard that he had actually lifted her off the ground and twirled her around like a rag doll.

"Oh Gabriele, Will…I am so happy for the two of you!" She came over to me and kissed both my cheeks.

"Thank you Leah" I said to her.

When she left, Will came over to me and hugged me more gently than before. The two of us couldn't stop laughing and smiling at each other that we barely spoke.

"Whoa, hold on Gabi. You should sit down and rest. Can I get you anything? Hold on, let me get you some water! Are you hungry? Cold? Warm?" Will's giddy care for me was so cute to watch. He frantically ran to the kitchen and came back with blankets and a glass of water.

"Will, really I'm ok. The baby isn't coming for a while." I couldn't help myself but laugh at the way Will paced around the room with excitement. I had never seen him so happy before.

"Ok, but just to be careful, lie down and take a nap." He gently pushed my shoulders down on the bed and threw a woolen blanket over me.

"Will you stay with me?" I asked him in a quiet tone. I had to calm him down somehow. He looked as if he would burst with happiness at any moment.

"Forever" he whispered as he laid down beside me and pulled me close to him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next night at dinner time, I just couldn't control my appetite. Everything looked so delicious and I was so hungry.

"Mother, could you please pass me the bread, peas, and potatoes? Oh, and father could you pass me the meat?" My parents just snorted at me as they passed the food. I could tell they knew something was wrong.

"Are you alright Gabi? You look very…different." I dropped my fork on my plate and looked up at my father. There was no way that they could have thought I was pregnant. My belly was still only very small.

"No. I'm just hungry. I can still eat, right?"

And for the rest of the dinner, we ate in silence.

"Will! It kicked!" I ran over to Will and put his hand to my stomach.

"Can you feel it?" I stood perfectly still and watched Will feel my stomach with his hands.

"I can" he whispered. He knelt down on his knees and put his ear to my stomach. I stroked his head gently.

"Not long now, my child." He kissed my stomach and stood up. "So, Gabi, what do you want to name it if it's a girl?" He sat down on his bed and opened up his arms to me. I plopped on his lap and put my arm around his shoulder.

"I don't know? I guess I have always liked the name Rena."

"Rena?" Will echoed. I nodded my head to him and smiled.

"Or Ivana." I pushed the hair out of Will's eyes and smiled. I could tell that he was thinking of girl names in his head as well.

"I love Rena. It's a nice, strong name for a child. But what if it's a boy?" I said the first name that came to my mind.

"Simon." As soon as I said his name, Will looked at the floor.

"He would like that Gabi." I leaned my head closer to Will and kissed his soft cheek.

"How have you kept this a secret still from your parents?"

I wanted desperately to tell my parents my secret but I knew that if I did, I would be putting all of mine, Leah and Will's life in danger. Not to mention my unborn baby. My stomach was growing bigger. Everyday I wore oversized clothing and tried my best to avoid my parents.

"I don't know. I guess it is just prove to how little they notice me" I joked to Will.

"They will eventually find out Gabi. You should just tell them that you have married a…good man that loves you very much and you are having his baby. I know it sounds ridiculous but what else can you tell them?" I tried to think of a way to avoid all of this but I just couldn't.

"Alright" I sighed, "I'll tell them tonight. I won't mention your name. I'll just say that I had been seeing someone for a long time and once he found out I was pregnant, he left me. Maybe that will gain some of their sympathy." I let out a loud groan and laid my head on Will's shoulder. "Why can't they just understand?"

"No just them Gabi. Everyone." Will rubbed my back and tried to calm me down. He always said that all this worrying I was doing couldn't be helping the baby.

A little time passed by when I felt an abrupt shaking on my shoulders. I hadn't realized that I had fallen asleep. I forgot how tired I was ever since I was pregnant. I opened my eyes and saw Will hovering over me trying to wake me up.

"Gabi! Gabi! Wake up! They're here! You have to hide!" I shot up in Will's bed and got to my feet.

"Quickly, in here guys." Leah remained calm and collective. That was one of the reasons that I liked her so much. No matter what happens, she was always calm.

Will and I rolled off the rug in the middle of the living room and opened the secret door leading to the cellar. When Will jumped down in it, he reached up his hands for me and I jumped. Leah shut the door and rolled back the rug over our heads. I clutched myself to Will tightly and tried not to breath. I was so close to Will, I could hear his heart beat.

"Shhhhhhh Gabi. It's alright" he whispered in my ear. I nodded my head and held my stomach.

"WHERE IS HE!!!??" Loud German voices filled the entire house. "WHERE IS THE FILTHY JEW YOU ARE HIDING HERE WOMAN!" I thought I felt Will flinch when they said "Jew", but that could have easily been me. "We know your hiding him here so if you tell us now, we will let you live!" I could hear vases being smashed and furniture been tossed around. I stopped breathing for more than thirty seconds when the shadows of the two German Nazis passed over us.

"Sir, I assure you there is nobody here." Leah's voice seemed so small and innocent compared to theirs.

"Why should we believe you?" I felt Will's grip over my chest tighten. "We have an eye witness that says I man about twenty looking has been sneaking out to the creek and back here. And sometimes he's not alone!" I prayed with all my might that they wouldn't find us. All these thoughts about Will, my parents, my baby, my **future,** rushed through my mind.

An hour went by with just the noise of Leah's house being torn apart until it was finally quiet again.

"We know he's here woman, so you better just tell us." I heard the Nazi's gun click. "now, I'm only going to ask you one more time. Where is the Jew you are hiding?" Both Leah and the Nazi were standing right above us. We could see their shadows above us moving around the house in a panic.

"No one is here!" Leah stood in front of him, unafraid.

"We will be back. And when we do, we will not only take the stinking Jew your hiding, but you too!"

When the door slammed shut, Leah ran back over to us and opened the trap door. When the two of us climbed out, we couldn't believe what we saw. The entire house was ransacked. Not one item in her home had remained untouched.

"Don't worry about that Gabi. I'm just glad that he didn't-" Before she could finish, the front door flew open again and in came the same two Nazi guards. They hadn't left, they just waited outside the house listening for when Will and I came out of hiding.

"You lying bitch!" A hard, swift hand flew across Leah's face causing her to yell out loud. "Here's the Jew!" The guard took his gun in his hand and in one motion, smacked it into the middle of Will's stomach.

"NO!!! Stop that!" Will fell to the ground and clutched his chest. I screamed at the top of my lungs for them to stopped but they just ignored me until one of them stopped beating Will and turned to me. Tears filled the rims of my eyes, blurring my vision. But when I got a good look at the Nazi standing in front of me, I wanted to die.

"F-Father?" I said. It was indeed my father. Standing there in a complete Nazi uniform, beating my husband.

"Gabi? What the hell are you doing here?" My father looked at me, jaw dropped.

"Father, why are you doing this? Since when have you become one of them?" I cried. "Does mama know?" I quickly threw on Will's over sized coat.

"Of course she knows Gabriele. But what are you doing here?" He started to walk towards me but I backed away.

"Father, this is my husband! I am Gabriele Kaiser! Please don't do this father!" I put my hand over my mouth to stop from screaming.

He looked at me with disbelief. "No. You can't be married to _**him**_!" He looked back at Will trying to get up. The look on his face was pure disgust.

"I am father! And I love him! I am having his child!" I opened my coat and exposed my bulged belly to my father. "So if you take him…you will have to take me too! I am his Jewish wife, father!"

"You really want to be his wife, Gabi?" My father asked me in an evil tone.

"Yes, father" I whispered to him.

"Well then. You are an adult and will be punished as one! You are no longer a daughter of mine! YOU WILL GO WITH HIM!" I look at my father and wanted to spit at him. A memory flashed in my mind of when I was a child. I had had a terrible dream that night and ran to my father's bedside. I told him about the monsters that lived under my bed. He came back to my room with me and checked every inch of my room for monsters. He assured me that he would always scare the monsters away from me as long as I lived.

"You promised" I blurted out from my memory to my father. "You promised me that you would always scare away the monsters! Well…you are one of them now father!"

"Gabi" Will said to me. "Please! Save yourself and the child!" He looked up at my father. " Please sir. She is still your daughter. I am the Jew, not her. She has always been a loyal German. Don't punish her because of me." My father looked down at Will on his knees, bleeding from his mouth, trying to save my life.

I bent down and took Will's face in my hands. "Will, I'm your wife. I can't and won't leave you. Without you…I'd…I'd be nothing." He closed his eyes and breathed in a long breath.

"Get up then! And get into the truck!" I ran to Leah and kissed her cheeks.

"Without you Leah, we would have never survived this long. And I need you to know that none of this is your fault and that you are a blessed person."

"I will pray for you every second of the day. All of you." She patted my stomach and turned away. It was too much for her to see us leave.

"They don't allow babies where your going. Know that Gabi." It sounded like there was a little sympathy in my father's voice. But I no longer loved him or thought of him as my father. He was just a man that betrayed me.

I helped Will up and lead him out the door. While we were walking to the Nazi truck, Will grabbed my hand. "I love you" he said to me.

I looked up at him. I wanted so badly to tell him that I loved him too, but I knew that the moment I opened my mouth, I'd choke up.

As we climbed into the truck, I glanced once more at the man that used to be my father. He avoided my eyes. Then I took one more glance at Leah's house. The place that had kept everyone I loved safe for a time. And as it slowly disappeared in the distance, so did my hope.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N- I want everyone to know that my story has always been fictional. The events that occur from this point on really did happen in Treblinka but my characters still remain fake. But just because there really wasn't a Gabriele or Will, doesn't mean that some of the things that happen to them are false. I know that somewhere, there was two people that lived through some of the things that I write about. Thank you for all your kind reviews and please if you have any ideas that you think I should include in my story, feel free to tell me!**

**Chapter 11**

It was cold. Very cold. The truck that Will and I had been locked up in was pitch black inside. The only noise was the sound of the interior of the truck shaking as it roared down the street. I tried to cover my stomach the best I could with my jacket but I knew in my mind that somebody was bound to notice. My belly was not huge but diffidently had a bulge.

"Here Gabi. Wrap this around your stomach really tightly." Will handed me a scarf that Leah had given him for his twentieth birthday. It was thick and big. It hid my stomach much better than my thin, raggedy jacket did.

From the cracks in the sides of the truck, I could tell that it was nigh time. We had been sitting in this freezing truck for hours. I clung to Will with all my might. I rested my face on his chest and tried to fall asleep. He rubbed my back in a soothing kind of way that made me relax a little.

"Don't worry Gabriele. I won't leave you." He reached for my face and kissed me lightly on the lips.

I could feel his body tense up every time I touched my stomach. "You know… you know what we have to do if the baby…" Will rested his chin on the top of my head and put his hand on my stomach. I squeezed his hand on my belly and shook my head.

"Will…I can't" I whispered. "I won't." I knew what he was thinking in his mind. I would never kill my child for the sake of my life.

"Sweetheart, you have to. That's the only way that we will be able to survive all this. You know what they do to pregnant women in these kinds of places." I could hear my heart pulse in the through my ears. I dug my face into Will's rock hard chest. "Gabi, look at me." I lifted my face close to his. "I promise you that we will have another baby. I promise you that. So if that's what you want… you need to do what I said. You need to do everything you have to do to survive because you know that I could never live without you."

I let out a long and shaky breath and leaned back against him. Will wrapped his arms around me tightly, trying to warm me up. I was shaking all over, not only from the cold but from what Will just told me. But what if I didn't have the chance to give up my first child? What if I went with it? I didn't want to think about it. I had to survive this though. Will was right. I needed to survive so that we can have the chance to have the future we always dreamt about.

The truck came to a sudden stop. Both Will and I jumped when we saw the doors burst wide open and a watch tower light flooded the truck.

**"Get out you filthy pigs!!"** A tall, ugly man in Nazi uniform grabbed Will by the arm and threw him onto the ground. I started climbing out when something from behind me pushed me onto the dirt coated ground as well. Will helped me up quickly, glancing at my stomach. I gave him a reassuring nod and clung to his waste as hard as I could as we followed three Nazis past watch towers and electrical fences. Every where, people, no not people but skeletons, moved around in a zombie kind of fashion. All their eyes were sunken in and their hair looked as if it had been cut off by a blind butcher. The swayed around in striped, filthy uniforms. Each time Will and I passed one of them, they looked up at us with pleading eyes trying to tell us something. Something that seemed so simple to comprehend to them but not to me. I shuddered at the sight of them. I vowed never to let myself get like that. They had given up completely at the chance for survival.

"Just look straight ahead Gabriele. Don't look at them darling." I averted me eyes away from the walking dead and focused on the mass of people ahead of us. They were in two huge groups. One side there was women and the other was men. No children. I didn't see one child in the entire mass of people that waited for us.

"Remember what I told you Gabi. You do everything you can to survive. _**Anything**_" he whispered to me.

"Anything" I whispered to myself again.

Just then, a guard in a uniform that was unfamiliar to me, grabbed me by my shoulders and tried to pry me away from Will. I dug my hands into Will's arm.

"Get away from her!" Will yelled at the Nazi officer, but he just laughed.

"Don't leave me Will" I cried out.

"I love you Gabi" he said to me and kissed me once more before disappearing into the men's line.

"Will!" I screamed to him. But I knew he couldn't hear me over the other cries from the mass of people. The guard ripped me off of him and threw me hard into the women's line before I could even say _I love you_ back. The pain in my stomach returned and caused me to fall down flat on my back. I groaned out loud in pain until somebody grabbed my bruised arm and helped me back up. 

"There, there. Don't worry you will see your husband soon again my dear." A gentle female voice filled my head. I spun around to see who it was. In front of me stood a tall, slender women with the most beautiful face I had ever seen. Brown locks surrounded her face. Her eyes had a chestnut color to them. She smiled to me and patted my hair. I threw my arms around her and cried on her shoulder. I felt her hand pat my back just like my mother used to do.

"What am I going to do?!" I yelled at her. "I'm supposed to be having a child soon." I turned my head down to my stomach and showed her my bulge.

She put both hands on my stomach and focused on my belly. "Four weeks. You will give birth to your baby in four weeks sweetie." I looked at her in confusion.

"How do you know?"

"I'm a doctor. My name is Asya. What is your name?" Her voice sounded like a singers. Soft and beautiful just like her face.

"Gabriele" I said in a shaky voice. "Where are we Asya?" I looked around for Will but the men's group had already been herded in the opposite direction of us to what looked like wooden barracks.

"Treblinka." She said the words that could make the devil himself cry.

"Is it bad here?" I looked around at my surroundings. All around me were wooden barracks and fields where mindless zombies waddled around with shovels in their hands. Tall watch towers stood every where with armed men at each one. Their bright watch lights rotated around the entire camp.

"You see that chimney over there?" She pointed a shaky finger towards a large brick building with a chimney on top of it, blowing out a black cloud of smoke. That's when the smell hit me. I started coughing and choking. This was a death camp. A place where you are gassed and then burned. I felt the color drain from my face.

"Don't worry Gabriele. We will stick together and watch out for each other. That is something I have learned from being here." Asya paused for a short moment. Her bottom lip started shaking which made me terrified. I started breathing short, fast breaths.

"How long have you been here?" I saw her eyes move from my face to the billowing chimney.

"Ten months today" she told me in a tiny voice.

"LETS GO YOU JEWISH FILTHS!" Another women dressed in a striped uniform that held a whip in her hand ordered us towards more barracks. She had a stern look on her face. She was not even close to being as pretty as Asya. She wore a matching striped cap on her head. Unlike the other's, she still had her hair. Her whip cracked over the shoulder's of many women in our group. I couldn't understand how this women, a Jew, could treat her fellow people in such a manner. Then I remembered Will's words in my mind. _Do anything to survive Gabi._

"That's Bitya. She is our barracks kapo. She's very dangerous Gabriele. Don't anger her in any way. Last night, she chocked a women from our barrack with her own two hands because she thought the women was sneaking food and not sharing it with her." I glanced up at Bitya and got a good look at her face. All I needed to do was be invisible to her. Never get in her way or that of her whips.

We were lead into a large barrack that had hair every where. All over the floor and chairs that lined the walls of the barrack were coated in all different colors of hair. Human hair! I bit down into my lower lip until it bled. I couldn't have Will see me without hair. But I knew that he would love me no matter what I looked like. With hair or without.

"Sit down!" A large women yelled to me. I quickly ran over to the closest chair and sat down. With hard, painful swipes, the women sheered off all my hair. Tears stained my face as I saw my beautiful golden locks fall to my feet. The women didn't take more than two minutes to shave my head. After she was done, she pushed me off the chair and motioned for Asya to sit down. I watched me expressionless face as all her beautiful hair was shorn off as well.

Then we were lead to another barrack where there were tables piled with blood stained, striped uniforms. More kapos with whips guarded us with watchful eyes. We were ordered to undress and stand by a table. That's when I knew that I would be caught. But just then, Asya whispered something into the ears of four women around us. Immediately they turned around and looked at me. Then they crowed in front of me and hid my stomach with their bodies. Asya flashed me a warm smile and took my hand. When we were ordered to dress, I followed Asya and the four women to a table in the corner of the room.

"Here Gabriele. Grab as much clothing as you can put on because we will not get anymore. Here, wrap this scarf around yourself." Asya snatched a red, woolen blanket, with many holes in it and wrapped it around my belly. The other four women around me quickly found clothing and shoes that almost fit and threw them on. Then one of them came up to me quickly and smiled at me.

"Hello. My name is Zimra. This is Moriel, Jana, and Nitza. We want to help you with your child" she whispered to me. I reached out and touched her cheek. She looked no more than fifteen. Moriel stood tall as well as Jana. They both were sisters and they both looked like they had been here for a very long time. Moriel looked a tad bit older than Jana. Nitza looked like she was my age and had sparkling blue eyes. Dimples formed whenever she smiled.

"Thank you Zimra. I could really need the help." She smiled at me, exposing a brilliant set of white teeth.

After our introductions, we were all herded into yet another barrack. There were four tables set up with more prisoners sitting behind them. Each held some sort of a pen like shape in their hand. I was the first one to go to the first table. As soon as I sat down, the prisoner rolled up my sleeve and held a tight grip on my arm to the table. I followed the pen like shape in her hand with my eyes as it came closer to my arm. When I realized what she was doing, I tried to pull away but she was just too strong.

"Hold still!" she snapped at me with a bitter voice. I closed my eyes and pictured Will's face in my mind as I felt the cold, sharp burning of a razor slice something into my arm. When it was all over, I looked down and saw that I had had a number tattooed on my forearm. I took the sleeve of my shirt and tried as hard as I could to rub off the ink from my arm but in was no use. I was branded. I no longer was Gabriele Kaiser, but number 5211.

After I found Asya and the others, we all were assigned to a barrack. Luckily, all of us were together. The inside of the barracks looked like something from out of a horror movie. Blood and straw covered the slabs of wood that lined the walls. Each bunk had three rows. I grabbed Asya's hand and followed her to a bunk. Her, myself, and Zimra huddled up close together on the first row. Nitza, Moriel, and Jana chose the second row. On my row, the girls let me in the middle to keep me and my baby warm.

As I rested my head on the cold, hard, wooden slab, all I could think about was Will and if he was still alive.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

I barely got any sleep that night. The constant smell of burning flesh in the air and screams from the doomed kept me from sleeping. I thought about my baby and of Will all through the night. Tomorrow, I had to see if he was still alive. I shifted my body onto my right shoulder and sighed.

"You should get some sleep Gabriele." Asya's gentle, soothing voice startled me.

"You can call me Gabi. That's what everyone used to call me. That's what my husband calls me." I turned and faced Asya's perfect face. "He's still alive, right Asya?"

"Yes Gabi. I am sure of it. He and my husband were heading towards the barrack where they chose the Sonderkommando. He'll be safe there."

"Sonderkommando? What is that?" I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and rubbed it with my hands.

"They are the men that looked the healthiest to work. They get extra food, warmer clothing and better living conditions." I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Oh! Asya, that's so wonderful!" I started crying knowing that somewhere, my husband was still alive and well.

"No Gabi. It's not a good job. The things they are forced to do are so inhumane that some kill themselves before they are selected to do it." She looked at me with pain stricken eyes.

"What do they do?" All my relief was suddenly gone. Fear chocked my words.

"They're in charge of burning the bodies and stripping them of all their valuables."

I'm pretty sure I had stopped breathing because once Asya said those words, the entire barrack began to spin. I pictured Will, my gentle Will that would never hurt anyone, burning the bodies of entire families.

"Gabi, please. You have to stay calm for the baby." She touched her fingers to my cheek. "You know, my husband's named is Isak. We were just married a few months ago." She smiled to herself as she told me all about how they met at a bar mitzvah and how they fell in love at first sight.

"Where did you meet Will?" I bit into my bruised lip and braced my self for reliving my entire story so far. The story I had tried to leave behind me in the past for so long.

"I hid him from the Nazis under my porch. Him and his brother the night his entire family was killed by the Nazis. His mother, his father, his brother and sister." Tears fell from my eyes as I remembered how kind they all were to me. "My parents had no idea I was hiding two Jews under our house. But I loved Will and would do anything for him. Even if that meant putting my own life in danger to save his. But after a while my home became too dangerous so I moved Will and his brother Simon, who was in terrible shape, to the safety of my mother's longest friends house. I knew I could trust her because we shared the same feelings about the Jews." I pictured Leah in my mind and smiled. "That is where Will asked me to marry him and of course I said yes. I had never been so happy in my life. Then Simon died. Will was a wreck and it scared me that he was giving up. I knew that something was still inside of him that begged for him to be strong. And soon that something came out the day I told him I was pregnant with his child." The thought of Will jumping up and down like a child warmed my freezing heart. "Then some how, the Nazis found out about us and came and arrested us. They were just going to take Will but I knew I had to go with him. I couldn't leave my husband. I'd rather die than be without him, Asya. One of the Nazis that came and got us was my father. My father. My guardian, my protector, threw Will and I into a truck and left us here in this hell whole." I waited for Asya to say something. She just sat there with a mixed expression on her face and stared at me.

"So your not Jewish?"

"I tried. When I married Will. I didn't have a bar mitzvah or and celebrated Hanukah, but I tried to be the perfect Jewish wife that Will deserved. I would have done anything to marry Will properly and give him the life I knew he so desperately wanted." I began to feel nervous for Asya's feelings toward me now that she knew I was German.

Asya sat up and looked down at me. "Now that's love Gabi. That shows how much you really love him." Tears filled her eyes. "Your good, Gabi. Never loose that sense of good in you. You will go far with that in life." I smiled back at her and gave her a big bear hug.

I was just about to ask her some questions about her former life when a sharp voice come from behind me.

"_German Nazi_" someone yelled to me. I spun around and looked at the young woman about my age glaring at me. "Your just as bad as them! Can you see what your people are doing?! You will never be a Jew and how dare you think that you can ever become one!"

I looked at this women in shock. Could she not see that I was being tortured through the same as she?

"Leave her alone! It's not her fault that you're here! She put her life in danger and came here just to be with her Jewish husband who she loved so much. How many other Germans do you know who would shelter and protect a Jew now?!" Asya slapped the woman across the face.

"What ever you have to tell yourself Asya." The women flashed one more evil glare towards me and laid back down to sleep. Asya turned back to me and shook her head.

"Forget about that old cow, Gabi." I shook my head and laid down close to Asya.

"So what was your life like before the war?" I needed to hear her voice in order to calm me down.

"Well, I had a darling little child. A little girl named Chaya." I could sense Asya's sadness as she continued telling me about her child. "They killed her as soon as I arrived here with Isak. They allow no children in Treblinka." I shuddered at the thought of loosing a child. I tried not to think of it.

"I am so scared Asya. What will I do when the baby comes? How can I take care of a baby here?" I clutched my belly.

"Just worry about keeping it alive in your stomach first, Gabi. I think I can get you a job indoors sorting clothing. That would be a good job for you." I nodded to myself and closed my eyes, praying for the sweet relief of sleep.

"_**RAUS, RAUS!**_" We were all awaken at five o'clock in the morning to the sound of Nazi and kapo shouting. Clubs banged against our bunks, jolting us awake. I raggedly rolled off the bunk and stood next to Asya in front of the Nazis. We were ordered to stand out side for hours as the Nazis counted us. I could feel myself swaying from side to side due to my lack of sleep.

One girl collapsed face first into the mud from exhaustion. Her friend beside her tried to pull her back onto her feet before the Nazis saw. But it was too late. When the Nazi saw the two girls struggling in line, he came over and ordered them to lie on the ground with their faces planted deep in the mud. He told them if they ever took their faces out of the mud, then he would stomp on their heads until their entire heads were buried in the mud. We all watched helplessly at these poor two girls bury their faces in mud until roll call was over. By then, both girls and chocked to death on the mud.

Asya was able to get me a job in the sorting room. I was so grateful to be able to get off of my feet for the day. Others were not so lucky. Nitza and Moriel were assigned to do heavy labor in the fields. I could see them outside the only window in the entire factory, carrying heavy boulders on their backs. Sometimes we would catch eyes and exchange smiles. I felt such pain for them. I wished that sometimes we could switch places. Asya and Jana were assigned in the vegetable fields. All day they spent, on their knees picking tomatoes, potatoes and corn. At night, they would bring me a tomato or potato that they were able to steal. I tried persuading them to eat it themselves but they would always answer back _for the baby, Gabi_. I had no other choice.

I was sorting out yet another suitcase one day when something happened that made my heart stop. It was my third week in Treblinka and I knew that the baby was coming soon. Out of the corner of my eye I saw three men in striped uniforms walk into the sorting room with their arms full with baskets containing little gold pieces. None of them looked at any of us. They just plopped the baskets in font of us and left. But this day, today, one of the men caught my eye.

"Will?" I whispered to the man dumping a pile of gold in front of me. As soon as I said his name, the man looked up at me. It was indeed my Will. I almost didn't want to look at him but my heart knew otherwise. His hair had been sheered off just like mine. Dark circles shadowed his eyes and he had gotten very thin. I pictured in my mind that I probably looked no different than him.

"Gabi?" His eyes widened in amazement. He took one of the baskets from another man behind him and dumped it on the table slowly.

"Oh Will. I have thought about you ever since we were separated." I opened a red velvet suitcase and spread its contents over the table in front of me. Dozens of pictures spilled out followed by shoes, glasses, shirts and socks.

"Gabi…I…the baby." Will's voice was hard and raw. He helped me sort out some of the contents of the suitcase until the rest of the men came back with more baskets and then he had to go back with them. Both of us tried to say something but words could not express the emotions we wanted to share with each other.

"The baby always seems to kick when I think of you." Will gently brushed my hand with his and smiled. "It should be here in one week."

"I'll be there Gabi. When the baby comes." I looked back down at the photos in my hands. They were all of happy families. Most of them had children in it and I wondered if Will and I would ever be able to take these pictures.

"What have you been doing?" I eyed Will carefully as I saw his eyes drop to the floor.

"Terrible, unspeakable things Gabi." He sighed. "Things that if you knew, you would no longer love me." He paused for a moment and pointed to the baskets of gold pieces in it. "I _**burn **_the bodies of the dead and steal all of their belongings for the Nazis. I am part of the Sonderkommando. We get extra food and better living conditions to keep us strong. I saved up every scrap of food I could get my hands on and saved it for you for weeks Gabi, but when I never found you…"

"I thought the same. And Will, I will always love you. No matter what they make you do."

"Does anyone know about the baby?" Will's voice was filled with nerves.

"Some of the women in my barrack are helping me take care of it. They are getting me better jobs and sometimes steal extra food for me." I wiped the tear that fell from my face with the back of me hand. "I hate it here Will. I want to go home with you." Salty tears fell down my face.

"I know you do sweetheart, but I need you to hold on. Be strong because I know how much courage you have hidden inside of you. We will see each other again my love." Will touched my cheek briefly as he stood up and walked out of the sorting room with the rest of the men. I watched him leave. I wanted so badly to run after him and throw myself around him. I needed his comfort now more than ever. I needed to hear his sweet voice fill my head and his soft touch.

**"GET BACK TO WORK!"** A hard crack of a whip slapped across my shoulders, jolting me out of my thoughts about Will. Bitya hovered over me and held the whip in front of my face. She swung it at me, faking me into thinking that she would hit me again. The pain of the lash burned on my shoulders.

After ten hours of sorting out the deceased belongings, we were all rounded up for roll call in the courtyard again. I dreaded this part. Twice, I thought seriously about dropping to my knees and except my fate, but how could I do that to my baby or even more, Will?

When I had finished swallowing the disgusting meal of bread and soup, I ran back to my barrack. I was surprised to see that Jana, Moriel and Nitza were all there except Asya.

"Where is Asya?" I asked all the girls, but no one seemed to know what had happened to her. I began to grow more and more anxious to where my dear friend was. It wasn't until late into the night when she finally crept in and huddled up close beside me.

"Where have you been?" I was so relieved to see Asya at last.

"I was with my husband" she whispered to me excitedly. I couldn't believe it. How did she escape the sight of the horrible Nazi watch towers.

"How did you do it?"

"I can be very sneaky when I have to be." She smiled at me and went on with her story. "Isak is in the same barrack as Will is in. He told me to tell you that he will come here to see you tomorrow night!" Her eyes widened with excitement as she told me the news.

At first I was extremely happy that I would be able to see Will again, but at the same time, I felt an incredible sense of nervousness. What if he was caught?


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

After another long and boring day in the sorting room, I was so anxious to see Will tonight. I could already see his beautiful face coming towards me from out of all the darkness and pain that surrounded me all day. Roll call seemed to take extra long tonight. Three girls were killed today for collapsing from exhaustion. But after it was over, I ran back to my barrack and found Asya. Something was not right. I kept getting terrible pains in my belly every ten minutes. Asya examined my stomach with her hands and smiled.

"Oh Gabi! Your going into labor!" Asya lead me over to our bunk and laid down as much clothing she had to make me as comfortable as possible. At first I was extremely happy. But then I began to grow nervous. The day that I had been dreading had finally came. The day when I would have to make the hardest decision of my life. A decision that I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Asya!" I groaned. The pain attacks were getting closer and closer and more frequent. I tried breathing in and out but that only made me dizzy.

**HOURS LATER**

It was late at night. Everyone was pretending to be sleeping except Moriel, Jana, Nitza and Asya, who were helping me with my labor. I was beginning to make too much noise with my screaming, so they all decided to moved me to the back of the barrack where it was dark. I was covered in sweat. It seemed like I had been in labor for hours. I probably was.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! WHERE IS WILL?!" I screamed out loud. Jana covered my mouth with her hand.

"He will be here soon Gabi. But I really need you to be quiet. Please Gabi, be quiet." Asya had stayed calm throughout this entire ordeal but now she began to get nervous. Moriel stood by the door and kept lookout for anyone. I wondered what was taking Will so long to get here.

"Asyaaaaaaaaaaaa" I cried. The pain was unbearable.

"Bite down on this Gabi." Nitza opened my jaw and slid a long, rolled up piece of cloth between my teeth. I bit down as hard as I could each time Asya told me to push.

"Alright Gabi. I need you to take a minute and relax. The baby is almost here honey!" Asya dabbed my wet forehead and placed a cool hand on my cheek.

"Someone's coming!" We all sat up and stared at Moriel as she ran down to our side of the barrack. "I think it's Will!"

I blew out a heavy breath as I heard his name. I knew he would come. I knew he kept his word.

I heard foot steps quietly make their way towards me. Will appeared from the shadows and wrapped his arms around me. I held my face close to his as he laid me back down on my back.

"I told you I'd be here my love" he whispered into my ear. "It's alright now. I'm here with you." He brushed the wet hair from my face and kissed my forehead.

"Ok Gabi. One more push and it should be here." I braced myself for my last strain. I gabbed Will's hand and pushed with all my might.

"Awwwwwwwww!" I screamed.

Will put his gentle hand over my mouth. I pushed with all my might to finally give birth to my baby.

"It's… here!" Asya said to me and Will. I fell back down on my back with a loud thud. Everything was spinning and I felt so nauseous.

Asya held the baby to Will. Will took it in his long, frail arms and looked down at it. Tears fell from his eyes as he rocked the baby back and forth in his arms.

"It's girl, Gabriele. Our baby girl." Will kissed the top of the tiny baby's head and smiled. "Rena" he whispered.

Everyone watched in amazement as Will passed the baby to me. No one thought that it was possible for anyone to have a baby in Treblinka. But I did it.

I reached out and took the tiny baby. She looked so innocent. So defenseless. I bit down hard on my lip.

"Hello Rena. I'm your mother, Gabriele, and this is your father, William. And we love you so much that we will protect you from the Nazis. We will give you another chance at a better life. We will give you back to the safe hands of God so that he can send you back to us after all this is over, my child." I kissed my baby one last time before handing her back over to Will. He whispered something to her and gave her to Asya.

"Your doing the right thing. Know that." And just like that, our baby Rena was gone. Asya took her outside and in twenty minutes came back empty handed. Tears stained her face.

I laid in Will's embrace for what seemed like hours but were only minutes until I finally broke down. Will lowered his face to mine and kissed my cheeks. Over and over again he told me that our baby was safe now with God, but all I could think about was what Asya had done to her.

"She's with God now Gabi."

Nitza, Moriel, and Jana climbed back into their bunks solemnly. Everyone in the entire barrack was staring at Asya, Will and I. They all seemed to be crying with us.

"I promise you that we will have another baby Gabi. I promise you that and I never break my promises." Will wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. My heart rate flowed in rhythm to his. A little while later, Will sat up and climbed out of my bunk. I caught his hand as he started to walk away.

"Oh, I though you were sleeping. Did I wake you?" Will stood in front of me and put his fingers under my chin. I nodded my head as in a "no". He sat back down beside me and rubbed my aching back just like he used to. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"I can't live like this anymore Will. I don't know how I will be able too. I mean, I have no idea if your alive or dead for days until you can sneak over here. I always think about what I would do if you were dead… and I just want to give up." I looked up at Will and saw him staring off into space. He had a strange look on his face. It was like he was keeping something away from me. Something that could might just be the solution to living through this hell.

"Gabi, I am going to tell you something. Nut you have to promise that you will never tell another soul. Do you?" Will's voice tensed and his body stiffened.

"Oh course. What is it?"

"We are planning an escape" Will whispered.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Live to Tell**

"An escape?" I took Will's face in my hands to express my point. "Will, it's way too dangerous and risky for us to even think of such things!" The thought of all the bad things that could happen from an escape attempt were terrifying. Just the thought made me shake.

Will entwined his fingers with mine. "It's just a thought. But think of it Gabi. There is nothing but forest surrounding this camp. If we could sneak out at night while the guards are asleep, we could find protection in the forest and be free again!" Excitement rose in Will's voice after each word. His eyes lit up in mine. "It's our only chance to have the life we had before all this" Will said in a shaky voice. His eyes focused on the ground and it looked like he was about to break down. I crawled behind him and wrapped my arms around his back.

"We made a promise, Will. We both are to do anything to stay alive. And if this escape attempt is our only option for survival…then I think we should do it" I whispered into his ear. It went quiet. I tightened my grip around him and started to kiss the back of his neck like I used to do. This made him smile. He turned his head towards me and met his lips with mine. Will raised his hand up as an impulse towards where my hair used to be. His hand stopped moving as he felt the bristly ends of my scalp. I pulled back with tears in my eyes. I was so embarrassed. I could only imagine the way I looked right now, but Will had still remained beautiful in my eyes.

"I guess I'm not as beautiful as I used to be. I must look so horrible." I all of a sudden felt so self-conscious near him. And that was something that I never felt around Will.

But to my surprise, Will began stroking my bald, bristly head with one hand, and traced the outline of my lips with the other. We looked at each other with a deep amount of passion in our hearts.

"You look just as beautiful now as you did when we first met. I could never think of you as ugly. I love you know matter what you look like." I kissed Will once more before he stood up. "I will be back. I love you."

"I love you too Will." And just like that, he was gone. Back to his barrack in the Sonderkommando where in the morning, he will be forced to burn the bodies of the dead.

After Will had left, I thought about what he said about an escape. _How many would be involved? How could it be possible?_ So many questions filled my head and made it impossible for me to sleep.

"_**RAUS! RAUS! SCHNELL! GET UP YOU FILTHY JEWISH COWS!"**_ This morning, the guards were especially annoyed. It seemed that the longer they yelled at us to get out of our bunks, the more agitated they became. I was still sore and depressed from last night that I barely made it out of bed for roll call. If not for Asya carrying me, I probably would have not been able to walk to the court yard. My legs felt as if they had be cut off completely.

When we were finally rounded up, a different guard came out and stood on the platform above us. I had never seen him before. He had black, shiny, greased back hair. His face showed no sign of sympathy for us. Why would he? He stood with his back straight and heels together. He glowered down at us. We probably looked even more hideous compared to this surprisingly handsome man.

"Good morning ladies. I thought that you might want to be informed that last night, three men were caught sneaking out of their barrack to and from the women's barracks. He have them right now, but will let them go if the women they came to see last night will step forward. If not, then they all die. So it is your decision."

As soon as the man told us about the news of the three men that had been caught sneaking to the women's barrack were with them, everything began to spin around in circles. It was as if I was standing on a rotating platform. Will was caught. I knew it. He was going to die because of me. I had been so selfish. I always assumed that he would sneak over to me. Why couldn't I have gone to him? I knew what I would do if they killed Will. I would throw myself at the electrical fence to escape from this horrible place.

I felt two hands grab me as I fell backwards towards the ground. Luckily the guards were all talking to each other at that moment or else I would have been shot.

"Be strong Gabi! Be strong for Will! He's too smart for those Nazis to catch him!" Moriel supported me with all he might. "Stand up Gabi!" I tried my hardest but my legs just wouldn't hold. Moriel grabbed me by my shoulders and managed to slowly move me to the back of the roll call line. There, I was able to lean against the brick wall for support.

"Please, please, please God. Please let them not have caught Will" I whispered to myself. Moriel took my hand and squeezed it tightly to show that I was not alone.

"BRING THEM OUT!" The sound of the man's voice went from calm and gentle to loud and terrifying.

Three men, battered and bleeding, were dragged out and thrown out front of us. I scanned each one of their faces and finally took in a breath of air when I realized that none of them were Will. I could not believe how happy I was. I vowed to myself that I would never allow Will to sneak out to me at night after all this has happened.

"LET THIS BE A WARNING TO ALL OF YOU! NO ONE LEAVES THEIR BARRACKS WITHOUT PERMISSION!" The three men knelt before the man with their heads down. The man pulled out his little handgun out of his pocket and aimed it at the first man before him. He was just about to pull the trigger when I loud yelp came out from our crowd.

"PLEASE SIR! DON'T KILL MY HUSBAND! KILL ME- IT'S MY FAULT! I MADE HIM COME SEE ME!" The women's voice seemed so familiar. When she started screaming again, I finally noticed who it was begging for her husbands life. It was Asya. My beloved, dear friend Asya. She had told me before that her and Isak always snuck out at night to see each other. That's probably where she was the night after she helped me with my labor.

I watched Asya fall to her knees and hold Isak, begging the man to let him live. The man just looked down in disgust at Asya and Isak as he aimed his gun at them. The first shot he fired was for Isak. Red midst stained the air around Asya as she cried in terror at the sight of her dead husband. The man aimed his gun again at Asya. I held my breath and shut my eyes. I couldn't watch this horrible man kill my best friend. Asya had helped and guided me throughout my entire experience since the first day I arrived in Treblinka.

I heard the man click his gun. Just as he was about to fire, Asya screamed something that I can hear in my head to this very day.

Asya threw her hands in the air and screamed ** "LIVE TO TELL!" **

We all looked up at Asya as she screamed those three words to us. I knew that we all wanted so badly to survive this not only to go on with our lives, but to tell others our stories. To make sure that something this horrendous could never happen again.

The man fired his gun at Asya. She fell to the ground in a puddle of blood with her husband. The man also shot the other two men before getting into his car and driving away.

At work the next day in the sorting room, I thought about Asya and Isak. _Is that the fate of Will and I?_ I knew that I would gladly throw myself into deaths way to be with him. And I know that he would do the same for me.

I was distracted from my thoughts of Asya and Will from the Nazi guard hovering over me. He was way too close to me for comfort. He had been watching me all day. I knew that he didn't look familiar to me so I guessed that he was new. Asya told me that the new guards are always the most wild, blood thirsty ones and to always avoid them.

"Why aren't you the pretty little Jewess?" The guard bent over and stuck his face in front of mine. I tried to inch away but he had his hand around my waist pulling me closer to him. "What is your name beautiful?" I turned my face away from him and didn't answer. He grabbed my chin and snapped my face towards him.

"Gabriele." I tried not to sound afraid but I knew that he sensed my fear.

"Gabriele" he hummed in my ear. This Nazi was way to close to me and I wanted to push him away if it weren't for his grip around my waist tightening around me. He looked like he was my age. Typical German features, blond hair and sky blue eyes.

"You don't look like the other Jews here. Why is that?" His hand traveled up my side and towards my breasts. His hand stopped at my rib cage as soon as he felt my body stiffen in uneasiness.

"Because I am from German decent. My entire family is German, but I decided to marry a Jewish man making myself another Jewish wife to add to your lists!" I snapped at him. I thought he would grow angry with me, slap me across my face and leave, but my plan backfired. First he looked around to make sure that it was just myself, him and two other women workers in the sorting room. Then he smiled an evil grin and put his lips close to me face. I trembled in fear. I felt his lips press against mine. I backed so far away from him, I slid off my chair and fell to the ground. All the contents of the previous suitcase I had sorted fell to the ground around me.

"So you were not born Jewish?" He sneered down to me. I tried to get back up but his big, black, leather boot pressed down on my chest, slamming me back on the ground. I screamed out in pain and looked up at the other two women beside me working. Could they not see that I needed their help? How could they just watch this all happen.

The Nazi ordered the two women out of the barrack. He started to unbutton his jacket and kick his shoes off. All that I remembered after that was laying there on the floor and hearing the young Nazi leave. I never thought that that could ever happen to me, but then I realized that I had been thinking that a lot lately. I remembered how safe I thought I was before all of this. How foolish I was.

I buttoned up my blood stained shirt and crawled back onto my chair. I couldn't remembered why my lip and nose was bleeding so much but I knew that the young man had something to do with it.

"Here" I heard a rough voice say to me. I turned around slowly and saw a tall, blond female Nazi guard hold out a handkerchief. I reached out for it and lost my balance in my chair. I fell to the ground hard. A pain in my wrist made me shriek out. I had indeed broken my wrist from trying to push the young Nazi man off of me.

"Get up" the female guard barked at me. I tried to push myself up but my legs seemed not to work. The female guard sighed and dropped her whip. She lifted me up under my arms and sat me upright on my chair again.

"Dab your nose and lip with this. You have a large bruise on your eye too." She looked at me with disgust. This woman was truly beautiful. Her golden locks surrounded her face and she had ruby red lipstick on. "I probably shouldn't tell you this but…" she looked around to make sure we were alone in the barrack. "Don't go to the infirmary. There will be a selection tomorrow and they always clean out the infirmary at that time." I stared at this women for a long time. I couldn't believe that she was helping me.

"Thank you" was all I could chock out. I was still very distraught over the previous events.

"Well, I saw you a couple of days ago and there is just something inside of you that I can feel. A sense of good. I have a very special gift with people. I can "read" their history sometimes. With most people, it's very faint, but with you! I have never been able to sense so much in a person before." She sat down in a chair beside me. I looked down at my hands in embarrassment. I must look like a monster compared to her.

"You had a baby. Here." I gasped at the her words. How could she have known about that? I nodded my head and started to cry.

"I saw what Günter did to you just then and I want you to know that you are not pregnant." The women stared at me with a touch of sympathy in her eyes. "But you…will become pregnant again. With a man named…Walter, no… William?" I raised my hand to my mouth to stop from screaming.

"William! That's my husbands name!" She smiled at me and stood up. She was satisfied with her conclusions.

"Hang on, you two will be together very soon. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but all I know is that you will see him soon." She left one more handkerchief beside me and left. I wanted to run after her and ask her so many more questions but I knew that that was not a good idea.

I wiped my face clean with the soft cloth and picked up all the letters, pictures and clothing off the floor and got back to work.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

_So,So,So,So sorry for taking so long to post my story. But it's here now and I would love to hear some of your reviews about it! Thank you so much to all of you!_

**A Miracle**

"Gabi! Gabi wake up, Will's here!" I shot up in my bunk and turned towards Nitza. I promised myself that after what happened to those other men I would not allow Will to risk his life like that to sneak into my barrack.

I ran to the barrack door to meet Will. When it cracked open, I threw myself into Will's arms and cried hard. I hoped that he would not ask me how I got my black eye but I knew he would.

I held Will tight to me. His arms crossed at back. I muffled my cries in his chest. He held out a large package for me filled with food. I took it slowly in my hands. I felt guilty every time Will brought me food. I shared as much as I could of it with Moriel, Jana, and Nitza. But when I refused to give it to other women whom I did not know, they became angry with me. Moriel would constantly tell me that I couldn't afford to be the mother of everyone but deep inside me I desperately wanted to give them all my food.

I sobbed quietly into Will's shoulder and dug my fingers into his back.

"Gabi, what's wrong?" He tried to get me to move towards my bunk, but I couldn't move. Today's events paralyzed me. I felt Will slide his arms under my legs and lift me up. I wrapped my arms across his neck as he carried me to my bunk.

"What happened today Gabi?" Will said as he laid me on my bunk gently. His voice was angry. He knew something bad had happened today to me. "What happened to your eye? And your lip!?"

I told Will about the Nazi that had raped me that day. I had no idea how Will would respond. But after I told him my story, the look on his face gave me my answer. His fists shook in rage and his jaw clenched shut. His breathing became fast and heavy.

"What was his name?" The sound of his voice scared me. It was hoarse and hard. The kind of voice you only hear in your nightmares and of course…the Nazis.

"Will… please don't do anything stupid because I know that he would kill you. I would rather that you just stay away from him than do anything dangerous." The thought of loosing Will was the only reason I stayed awake night after night in this terrible place. Without him, I would never be able to survive.

Will's eyes widened in fury. "What…was… his… name… Gabriele." I sighed and uttered the terrifying Nazis name.

"Günter" I whispered. "I don't know his first name but his last name is Günter." I sensed the anger and hate in Will's body. He gripped the edge of my bunk and squeezed the would with all his strength. I could actually her the wood splitting under his palms.

"Günter. Before we escape from this place Gabriele, I will make sure that he is dead." I shuddered at Will's words. I had never heard him sound and hurt angry before. He was using words that I never thought someone so innocent and gentle as he would ever use.

"I promise Gabi." Will pulled me closer to him. "Are you alright?" He paused. "That's ridiculous. I should have been there Gabi. What kind of man hears his wife has been raped and does nothing." I felt hot tears run down my face.

"Will, there was nothing you could do. Treblinka, the Nazis, everything has torn us apart. We can no longer be with each other everyday any more. Don't blame yourself for what happened. Knowing that, is worse than thinking of what Günter did to me."

I laid in my bunk with him until it was almost time for roll call. In the hours we laid there together, Will had not said a single word. He was so angry and wanted to do something drastic to the man that hurt me.

He brought my face close to his with his gentle fingers and examined my eye. It was bruised and swollen. He also carefully felt my wrist. I hadn't broken it, just a sprain.

"Where will you be working tomorrow?" I tried to get him to talk. I hated the dead silence we shared. He closed his eyes tightly and then snapped them open. I knew that he was very scared about something. He sat up in my bunk and looked down at me.

"I will be working on cleaning the gas chambers. I don't think that I can do it Gabi. I have enough to endure burning the bodies but now I must send them to their deaths. How can I ever do that? They ordered us to lie and tell the people that they are going for showers. But there are no showers in Treblinka. Only gas! I am being told to force hundreds of people to the death! Women, children, and men." I covered my hand over his mouth. I knew that he was already upset and now my news to him about what happened to me just made it worse. "Would you still love me if I am forced to do this?" Tears filled his eyes and it broke my heart. I sat upright with him and put my hand on his face, wiping the hair from his face. His hair was growing again, as was mine.

"Will…we are all forced to do such horrible things here. That is the only reason why we are alive now. If you had the choice, I know that you would rather throw yourself in the gas chambers than other innocent people. Because…you…are good. Be angry at those Nazis, not yourself. And know that I love you so much. No matter what you have to do here to survive." I kissed Will's lips passionately. I always felt the best when I was with Will. I pulled away and looked at him. "I'll be fine. Please don't worry about me so much" I whispered in his ear. I hated the thought of Will worrying about me all day.

He sighed to himself and kissed my on my lips once more before jumping out of my bunk and running back into the darkness of the night.

I woke up early the next morning. Before the guards had even woke up. I knew that today was the day of selection. I had warned all the girls about it and told them to be prepared. It sounded kind of silly when I tried to get them to look healthier. We all looked so emaciated.

"Nitza! Get up! You need to look alive, not tired!" I shook Nitza's shoulders hard. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me. This girl who was now only fifteen, looked twenty years older. Her eyes were sunken in and dark circles outlined them. Her thin skin stretched across her face making her look like a corpse. I smiled warmly at her. "Come Nitza. Help me wake the others. We need them to look as healthy and strong as possible." Quietly, everyone in our barrack began to wake up and pinch their cheeks for color. The women beside me slapped herself hard over and over again. I almost wanted her to stop, but then I noticed how red her cheeks became. I started doing the same for myself. It hurt, but I didn't care. I needed to pass selection. Now that I knew about my future with Will and our new baby, I was determined to survive now more than ever.

"Don't leave me Gabi" cried Nitza. Ever since Asya died, Nitza and I had grown close. It was almost like we were sisters. I would not loose her too.

We lined up outside in rows of ten. Nitza stood in front of me. Every hour or so, we would touch hands to tell each other that we were alright. But when the terrifying music began to play over the speakers, I knew that the selection had begun. Men dressed in white doctors uniforms came out into the huge courtyard and sat down in their seats. They were aligned in a circle. The guards made us undress and stand in line naked. We were ordered to run pass the doctors and if they told us to stop, then we were to go to the left.

"Just run as fast as you can Nitza. Don't look back. Just run as fast as you can!" I shoved Nitza forward as soon as our row was called forth. I followed Nitza as fast as I could. I noticed that the women in front of Nitza had been stopped by the doctors. She was dragged out of line and threw into a group of women that stood naked, waiting to be lead to the gas chambers. We were almost back to the barrack when something on the muddy ground got caught in Nitza's way and tripped her. She fell and rolled about three feet. I was running so fast that I had pasted her before I could have stopped. In a split decision, I ran back and grabbed Nitza's hands.

"Get up Nitza!! Run! Run!" I dragged her a few feet when I noticed that one of the doctors was walking towards us. He pointed at us to one of the guards. I thought that I might have fainted when I got a look at the guards face. It was Günter. The Nazi that had raped me.

"This way ladies" he sneered at us. I thought about running but I knew that the two of us would not get very far at all. I finally swallowed my heart in my throat and steadied Nitza back on her feet.

"I'm so sorry Gabi!" Nitza began to cry. I held her close to me and told her that I was not mad at her.

"I'm with you Nitza. I won't leave you. I promise." We joined the group of other extremely sickly looking women. They all stared at us like we each had three heads. We were the healthiest of all the women there.

"MOVE!" Günter shoved us all towards a giant brick building. I started crying when I realized that we were heading for the gas. I tried to stop the sobbing, so Nitza wouldn't get any more frightened but I couldn't. I had tried so hard to stay alive for so long and I was not about to let the Nazis kill Nitza and I now.

"LINE UP!" All of us entered the giant brick building and were herded into a large room with coat hooks everywhere. We had no clothes on to begin with so I had no idea why they would bring us here. That's when men from the Sonderkommando came into the room with us. I suddenly jumped when I remembered how Will told me that he would be working here today.

"Stay calm. You are just going to be sterilized so we can move you to another camp. Just quickly and quietly follow that man over there into the shower room." The man that said this to us looked healthy. I guess that they were feeding the Sonderkommando well to keep them the strongest. I searched for Will.

"This way" a voice mumbled from ahead of us. At first I couldn't make out who it was that sounded so depressed. That person's head hung low on his shoulders. But then he raised his head up to the crowd and stared at us with horrified eyes.

"Will!" I screamed. I grabbed Nitza's hand and dragged her as fast as I could towards my beloved Will. "WILL! It's me!" He turned around into one swift motion and stood up straight when he saw me.

"Gabriele! What are you doing here?" His voice chocked up as he put another man in charge of leading the women to the "shower" rooms. "You shouldn't be here!" He pulled me into his arms and held me close to him. He turned to one of the clothing hooks and grabbed clothes for both Nitza and I. I quickly threw them on while talking to Will.

"I don't know why, but we were just put in here." I looked at Nitza. She just looked at the floor and held my hand. "I don't" I coughed hard, "I don't know what to do Will" I cried. I tried to stop my coughing fit but something burned in my chest when I tried to stop.

"You are not going in there Gabriele." The confidence in Will's voice made me feel less afraid. I knew that he would find a way for me and Nitza to live. "Quickly follow me." He grabbed my other hand and lead both Nitza and I into another room.

I gasped at the sight in front of me. There was four giant ovens and men pushing stacks of bodies into them. Thick, gray smoke filled the air and my lungs. I coughed again and again. More men came from several doors leading towards the shower room with cart loads of dead bodies. All the bodies looked pale and their eyes stared out into space. I knew that that is what happens to you when you go for showers.

"Don't look at them Gabriele. Just follow me this way. There's another door that leads back to the barracks." He turned my face towards his with his hand. "Just look at me" he mouthed. It was extremely important that we were quiet and nobody saw us. If we were seen, all of us would have been shot.

"What are you doing William?!!" A younger man, maybe seventeen, barked at Will. It was Aaron, the young man that had made fun of me the first day I searched for Will in the ghetto. His eyes were wide with alarm. He was in charge of carrying the dead bodies to the crematorium. "If you are caught, they will kill all of us!" He shot dark glances at Nitza and I.

"Shut up! Keep working and don't draw attention to us!" Will tugged myself and Nitza towards another door.

"You can't do this again William! You know what they did to that girl you tried to save the second they knew she had not been sent to the gas." The young man looked back and forth from us and the front door to where the guards stood. We crouched lower in the shadows of the ovens and slowly made our way to the back door. The smell of the crematorium started to overpower me and make me gag.

"What is he talking about Will?" I whispered to him.

"I tried to save a girl three days ago. I was able to get her back to her barracks. But somehow, word got out that she had avoided the gas and was…" Will paused and swallowed hard. "They shot her the minute they found out." I could tell that he was deeply depressed about this incident. "She was only four years old Gabi. How could I send a four year old to her death? She had no parents or anyone that could have comforted her when it happened. I thought that if I could save just one person, this little child, then she could maybe survive all of this, she could have a family of her own and prove the Nazis that they will never win."

When we finally got to the front door, Will opened it and said that we were back at the barracks. "Just keep going straight for a few meters. You'll be back at your barrack soon. This is the way I go to see you." He looked down at me. "I tried to save her Gabriele" he whispered. Tears fell down his soft cheeks. I brushed them away and held his face with my hands.

"You tried Will. Nobody else did." I kissed him on the lips. I was so proud of him that he would even attempt to defeat the Nazis by saving at least one person from death. When we pulled apart, I looked deep into his beautiful, hazel eyes. "I'm so proud of you Will." He smiled at me and them at Nitza. Nitza ran to him and threw her arms around his waist. She was so small for a fifteen year old that Will looked like a giant compared to her. He patted her head gently. Then Will turned to me and took my hands in his.

"You'll be fine now. Just avoid the Nazi that brought you here. Although, they are terrible when it comes to remembering faces." I wanted to tell Will that it was Günter who had brought us here, and he would diffidently remember my face of all people, but instead I just shook my head.

Soon, we heard voices coming our way so that's when I knew that I had to leave.

"Goodbye Will. Thank you" I whispered to him as Nitza pulled my arm towards our barracks, beginning me to leave now. But I didn't want to. I wanted to stay with Will. I needed to know that he would still be alive everyday.

"Please Gabi! Come! They'll find us!" I started to walk away from Will until our hands slipped apart and only air was between us.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**The Plan**

A few days after my experience with the gas chamber, my job was changed. I was now assigned to do heavy labor in the fields. All day we were ordered to load up trucks with heavy boulders and pull those carts to a lake about a mile down a hill. Three girls dropped dead that day from exhaustion.

"Gabi." Moriel was working with my in the fields for the rest of the week. Jana and Nitza were busy in the kitchen cooking food for the Nazis.

"Yes" I answered. I could feel the beads of sweat pouring from my face. It had to have been ninety degrees that day.

"I heard about the escape. And I want to be a part of it. I have to get Jana and myself out of here." She helped my lift a giant rock into the tiny wooden cart. Then we each grabbed a handle and started pushing it down a narrow hill slowly.

"How did you hear about it?" I began to worry that if other women knew about the escape, then how do I know the Nazis don't?

"I over heard you and Will talking about it the day of your pregnancy. I'm sorry but I really want to be a part of it. Please Gabi." The sun beat down on us. I tightened the scarf around my head which protected my bald scalp from sunburn.

"I'm meeting Will tonight about it and I will discuss it with him. But Moriel, I need you to never talk about it again unless your with me. If word slips out then we are all dead." I had to frighten her into not saying anything.

"I promise Gabi" she said in a scared, timid voice.

Late that night, I quietly slipped out of my barrack and ran towards barrack thirteen. That was Will and my self's meeting place ever since I argued with him that I will no longer allow him to be the only to sneak around when we want to see each other. I crouched down on my knees and waited behind the barrack for Will.

After about ten minutes of waiting, I heard footsteps behind me. I would have thought it was Will but these sounded like more than one person. I grew more and more nervous as the many footsteps came closer and closer towards me. I thought about running but my feet wouldn't move. Once again I was paralyzed by fear. I hid my face on my knees and tried to be as quiet as I could.

"Gabi?" I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and was relieved to see that it was Will. He was standing in front of a group of other men behind him.

I jumped to my feet and kissed Will as if we were alone. I was still trembling from the thought of it not being him that followed me here and he sensed it.

"It's alright Gabi. It's me" he said quietly as I dug my face into his shoulder. His voice was gentle and confident. This calmed me. I looked at the men behind him. They just stood there uncomfortably and watched as the two of us embraced. Both Will and I laughed quietly to ourselves.

"Gabi, these are the men that are going to escape with us. That is Ariel, Moshe, Shmuel, and Jacob." I glanced at each of their faces. The oldest and visibly strongest out of the four men was Jacob. He was tall and had a muscular build. Ariel was short and had brown, long hair. Shmuel and Moshe both had darker skin than us. The only difference between the two of them was that Moshe was younger than Shmuel and had brown eyes when Shmuel had blue. Moshe had just turned sixteen.

Moshe walked towards me. He had a nervous look on his face which frightened me. "Hello Gabriele" he said in a low voice. "I think that you are in the same barrack as my girlfriend. Do you know Nitza. Nitza Hollstein?" Moshe used many hand motions when he spoke.

"Yes!" I whispered quite loudly. I was so excited. I had no idea that Nitza had a boyfriend. I wondered why she never spoke of him. "She is one of my good friends here! But she never said that she had a boyfriend." Moshe's expression turned from relief to depression.

"That's because she thought I was dead." He closed his eyes tightly and took in a long, deep breath. "We were separated when we got here. At first I was sent to the line that went straight to the gas chamber, but later was chosen to be part of the Sonderkommando at the last second. I'll never forget the look on her face when she knew that she was to live and I to die." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"I will tell her tonight that you are alive and will see each other soon." I felt so sorry for Nitza. I never knew that she had a love of her own and that she didn't speak of him because it hurt her too much. I suddenly felt guilty for all the time I spent talking about Will in front of her.

"Gabi" Will spoke quietly to me, "these men have access to weapons the Nazis use. They are in charge of cleaning and loading them. They think that they can steal some guns for us to use in our escape." I was shocked. I never knew that our escape plan involved the killing of Nazis. But why not? They have slaughtered so many of us. I had lost so many friends, seen so many deaths. Why shouldn't I have revenge?

"Good. But where are we to escape?" I listened intently to everyone of the men's words. Will was the first to respond.

"In exactly one week from today, we all will meet at barrack three. It is closest to the forest. We will cut the electrical fence and run across the field to the protection of the forest. There are partisans there that are willing to take us in. But we must act quickly and quietly. If any of the guards catch us, we will have to kill them. The others are going to be at the south and north end of the camp. They will also cut through the electrical fence and run for the forest. We have groups of men that will be positioned in specific areas of the camp to take down any the guards while the prisoners escape." Will pulled out something wrapped up out from his pocket.

"Everyone will have to learn how to use a gun." I shuddered at the sight of Will with a gun. It terrified me but also made me feel safer. He passed the gun to each of the men to hold and get used to. When Jacob handed to me, I was hesitant.

"Please Gabi. It would make me feel a lot better if you had one when we plan our escape." I looked at Will and slowly took the gun from Jacob's hand. It was cold and small. A handgun, I presumed. I lightly put my hand on the trigger. I imagined myself pulling it in the direction of Günter.

"How many people will be escaping Will?"

"As many as God will allow." I knew he meant the _entire camp_. This scared me. How many people are going to die when the guards catch on to our plan? I thought that it would only be us trying to escape from Treblinka, but I was very wrong.

I watched Will go over and over the details of our escape. He would be the one to cut the electrical fence and lead us into the forest. I didn't like the fact that he was the one picked to do that, but I didn't want to mess up the plan.

After everyone was done planning, Will insisted that he come back into my barrack with me. I was still so paranoid about what happened with Asya and Isak, but I wanted to see Will so badly.

"Will?" turned my body to face him. With Asya gone and more and more women dying from our barrack each day, there was a lot of room for the both of us to have some privacy.

"Yes?" Will tightened his arms around my frail body and rested his chin on top of my head.

"When the day comes when we will try to escape, where will you be?" I was so worried that he would tell me that he would be one of the men that "take down" any guards that start firing at us. I needed to be beside him throughout the entire ordeal.

"I will positioned behind barrack four. I will see you before it all happens." I knew that he hated the plan of us being separated just as much as I did.

"No!" I screamed. I would not be separated from him. What if something happened to him and I wasn't there to help him? "I want to be with you! Why didn't you tell me that we were to be separated at the meeting?!"

Will took me face in his hands and studied my face. "Gabi, I need you to promise me that you will run as fast as you can into the forest and not come back here looking for me the day of the escape. I have to know that you will follow the instructions that are given to you. I will find you once we are in the forest." His voice was confident. "Nothing will happen to me. I promise."

"But you don't know! How can you promise me that you will not be killed when dozens of Nazis are shooting at you?!" Tears streamed down my face. I cried so hard that my entire body trembled. The thought of not finding Will in the forest was terrifying.

"I need you to promise me Gabriele. Promise me right now that you will not come back and look for me here" he whispered into my ear. I looked up at his face and saw that it was taking all his strength not to break down. He knew that he had to be strong for both of us so that everything would go as planned the day of the escape.

"Alright" I said. "I promise. I just love you so much Will, and the thought of anything happening to you is worse than death to me." Will brought my face close to his and kissed me on my lips.

"That's exactly how I feel" he said, still kissing me.

An hour later, it was time for the worst part of the day. Will had to leave.

"I will be back tomorrow Gabi. I love you." We kissed once more and then he was gone. I decided not to go back to sleep. The guards would be waking up soon and a hard day at work would begin.

The next day, I was assigned to tend the animals that Treblinka raised for the Nazis taking. I was very excited to be working with animals. Ever since I was little, I have always loved animals. Mama and papa would never let me have one but I would always have Adala's dog Pepe to make up for the disappointment.

I walked into the farm house and was immediately at ease. All day, I cleaned the rabbits cages and collected the chicken's eggs. The smell of the farm animals would have been nice if not for the rancid smell of burning flesh in the air. Every time I caught a glance of the crematorium and gas chamber buildings, I thought of my dear Will and cried quietly.

I was tending the lambs in their tiny, cramped space when I heard screaming coming from the barrack next to me. There was a door that connected the two barracks together that I put my ear to. I heard Günter and the muffled screams of another women. My heart pounded hard in my chest. The women screamed for him to stop but I knew his intentions and that he was not leaving until he was satisfied. I put my hand over my mouth to stop from screaming out in pain for this poor women. I knew what she was feeling right now as well as Günter. I had never hated anyone so much as I did Günter and I was about to let him do what he did to me to another women.

I grabbed a shovel I had been just using to clean the cows area and burst through the door. I saw Günter beating the women mercilessly. He had not been doing what I thought. Instead, he was kicking a young women about my age with his big, leather boots.

"STOP!" I ran toward Günter with my shovel and hit him hard in the stomach with it. The blow threw him backwards and slam into the wall. The young woman quickly got to her feet and ran out of the barrack. I ran towards the door, but before I could, Günter slammed it shut. He stared at me with murder in his eyes. I shriek out loud as he grabbed me by my throat and lifted me up until I was completely off the ground. I kicked and kicked vigorously but to no avail. Günter slammed my back against the wall and tightened his grip around my throat. I tried to breath but every time I tried, Günter's grip would tighten. I felt my lungs cramp up and head start to spin from the blow to the wall.

"SIR!" A panicked voice yelled behind us. It was young Moshe, Nitza's boyfriend. Although he had just turned sixteen, he had the build of a twenty year old. It seemed that he had hit some sort of a growth spurt since the last time I saw him at the escape meeting.

"What? Can't you see that I'm busy!?" Günter turned his face back to me. His cold, rough hands still wrapped around my throat and held my off the ground. I felt the room darkening. I knew that if I did not get a chance to breath in, I would surely die.

"Um, your…needed in the artillery office." Moshe glanced nervously back and forth between me and Günter. "They've requested your attendance immediately, Sir." In my blurred vision, I could see that Moshe was growing more and more impatient.

With a loud sigh, Günter released me. I fell to the ground with a hard and painful thud on my back. I coughed and coughed, gasping for air. When the door finally slammed shut, Moshe ran to my side. He placed a gentle hand on my forehead as I lay on the ground, trying to breath. Each breath I took burned my lungs.

"Just breath Gabriele. What did you do to get him so angry?" Moshe helped me sit up and rubbed my back. "Probably nothing knowing Günter." I looked up at Moshe's face. He was looking at me with a sympathetic glance.

"He was…" I coughed hard, rattling the insides of my chest, "beating a woman. Just like he did with me. Sort of." I shuddered at the thought of the last time I saw Günter. Moshe let out a sigh and hugged me. He held me in a way a brother would. And that is how I saw him. He was the brother I never had. And although I was older than him by four years, I shrunk in his arms. I was the size of a rag doll compared to him. I laughed out loud to what we must look like right now.

"Don't tell Will about this Moshe. He'll only be more worried about me." I made him swear never to tell Will about all the beatings I received.

"You know Gabi, Will talks about you all the time. Anyone can see that he in deeply in love with you. Every night just before we finish our shift in the cremat-" Moshe paused and sighed, "he is so excited to get back to you." Moshe smiled down at me. "Just…try to be more careful around here. If anything ever happened to you, Will would go crazy. And we all love Will. He is the father of us all, always having a good word to spread or a friendly smile. He never looses hope for all of us…especially you." He helped me to me feet. I stared at Moshe with great respect.

"That's so good to hear, Moshe. You have no idea." I coughed once more, this time didn't hurt so much. "I always knew that Will had that sense of good in him. Tell him that I love him so much, won't you Moshe?"

"Of course I will." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "How is my Nitza? Is she well…or as well as one can be in this place?"

I told him that she was fine and that I was looking after her as best as I could. I neglected to tell him about the whole incident with the selection and how both myself and Nitza were almost killed if not for Will. I knew that it would only hurt him more. But I did tell him all the things she tells me of him all the time. It's actually quite adorable to hear her ramble on and on about her Moshe, kind of like the way I do with Will.

Time passed quickly when I was talking to Moshe. He was the perfect friend to share all your problems to. But about twenty minutes into our conversation, Günter stormed back into the room and grabbed his handgun from his coat pocket. I closed my eyes and braced myself for whatever pain was about to be inflicted upon me. But instead of feeling his cold fingers wrap around my throat, I opened my eyes to see Moshe standing in front of me, standing toe-to-toe to Günter and looking him straight in the eye. Neither of them flinched or blinked for a minute. I stood behind Moshe, my protector, and waited for what seemed like an eternity.

"Don't touch her" Moshe said in a stern, authoritive voice. My heart pounded in my chest. Moshe was probably the only person who has ever stood up to Günter. Why was he risking his life for mine? We had only just become friends this past week.

For some strange reason, Moshe's courage caused a smile to form over Günter's evil face. It seemed to be an approving smile. Like Günter was proud of Moshe. He put his gun to Moshe's head and held it there. My breathing stopped. Moshe stood motionless and un intimidated.

"If I see either one of you again, I will take pleasure in killing you. Especially you, pretty German Jew." Günter lowered his gun away from Moshe's head and walked away. As soon as the door closed, I grabbed Moshe's arm and spun him around.

"Why would you do that? You could have been shot!" Anger, not towards Moshe but towards Günter, shot through my body. "Why Moshe?!" I wiped away the tears that feel from my eyes with the back of my hand. Moshe opened his arms and took my in them. I connected my arms around his waist and cried. I missed Will so much now more than ever.

"I told you already Gabi. If you get hurt, so does Will. And I respect him too much to have him go through that kind of pain. Plus, you are protecting my Nitza, so I will protect you." He rested his chin on top of my head which reminded me of Will. "Team work and looking after one another is the only way that we can all defeat the Nazis, Gabi."

"Thank you Moshe. You have really helped me." I wiped my last tear away and looked up at him. "Tell Will that I love him so much." Moshe nodded and hugged me once more before leaving.

As I returned back to the animals, I thought about what Moshe said. About how looking after one another and team work were just some of the ways that we can beat the Nazis. This gave me great comfort and hope for the future knowing that we had just scored one point against one Nazis. And that was all that mattered to me.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Tell Him That I Didn't Want to Believe It**

The day was getting closer. The day that would determine our fate. I went over every detail of our plan over and over in my head until I was dreaming about it. I dreamt that Will and I were free and living some place safe. We had a small, cozy little house in the country side and we had a child. I couldn't remember exactly how the child looked or even if it was a boy or girl, all I knew was that Will and I were finally happy.

The next day at work in the fields, I was partnered with Nitza. I thought that this would be a perfect time to tell her about Moshe.

"Nitza?" I asked. The guard on duty was napping on the job which gave me some time to talk with her.

"Yes?" She didn't pause to look at me. The two of us shoved the last boulder into the cart and wheeled it down the hill again.

"Do you know a Moshe? Moshe Goldberns?" Nitza dropped her side of the cart and stared deeply at me. I motioned for her quickly to pick up the cart again before the guard saw us, but she didn't move.

"How do you know him? My Moshe is dead Gabriele." Tears fell down her pale, bony face.

"No! He's not Nitza. He is friends with Will and I saw him a few nights ago." Nitza stood beside me stunned. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally helped me with the cart.

"Is he alright? How did he survive? I saw him go to the gas! What barrack is he in? Does he want to see me? I have to see him!" I tried to calm her down. One after another she asked me questions about him that I didn't have time to answer.

"Nitza!" I yelled at her. "He's fine and he is part of our escape organizers. He misses you so much and only just found out that you were alive. He never stopped looking for you" I said with a smile. It was as if I had lit a match in Nitza's mind that gave her strength she always had but gave up on. She was suddenly alive again and full of hope.

"Oh, Gabi. Can you arrange for us to see each other again?" She looked up at me with pleading eyes. "Please Gabi?"

"I'll try my hardest. With the escape planning going on around here, I can't afford to take any more risks anymore." Nitza enthusiasm dropped immediately. "But I will tell Will tonight what ever you want him to tell Moshe."

"Tell him that I love him. And can't wait to see him." I looked down at Nitza. I could tell she wanted so badly to say something else but for some reason wasn't telling me.

"Is that all?" There was a long pause before she looked at me and spoke in a whisper.

"Tell him that I didn't want to believe it."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Getting Ready**

It was the night before our escape. I met up with Will, Jacob, Moshe, and Ariel. Moshe had a bundle with him. Inside were five little hand guns. He handed one out to each of the men and two for me.

"One if for Nitza" was all he said to me. I smiled at him and this time took both guns in my hands with out any hesitation. I was ready to kill any Nazis if I had to. I had pictured myself taking aim at Günter for so long that I believed that I could really actually kill him and the others.

Ariel called all of our attention. "Will, you and I will be positioned at the north end of the camp. Jacob, you will be positioned at the east side of the camp and Moshe, you will be at the west end. Each of you will have five other men to help you that I have already assigned. They are smart, strong men that all have practice in combat. Most are POW's. They have all been given as many weapons as we were able to steal." I shuddered at the thought of my Will working beside trained killers. "Gabriele, you will be in charge of showing your group at roll call where to go. Just tell them tonight that you will be first in line and when we give the signal tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, to follow you towards the barbed, electrical fence behind barrack four." I nodded my head. Will took my hand in his and squeezed it tightly. "Get some rest tonight men…and women. Tomorrow we could be free. And I would like to personally thank you for all your brave tasks of getting supplies and making it this far." We all looked at each other.

When the meeting was over, I quickly grabbed Will and kissed him passionately. I dragged him into my barrack, our lips never separating. When we were inside, I lead him to our usual spot far into the barrack. It was the most abandoned and quiet place to be.

Will's lips traveled down my jaw and on my neck. He kissed the hollow of my throat as I slid my arms around his neck. When his lips came back up to mine, I grabbed his arms and pulled him closer to me. We kissed for so long, I had to pull away from him to catch a breath. Even then, every time we kissed, my heart would race and jump in my chest.

Our lips still touching, Will whispered something into my ear. "Everything is going to be fine tomorrow. Our plan is bullet proof." I looked at him as the both of us laughed at the irony of his words.

"I know" I managed to say between kisses. "I just wish that we didn't have to be apart for most of it." I felt Will's chest with my hands and kissed the back of his neck.

"I'll find you in the forest. I promise you that." Will took my hand from his face and kissed the inside of my palm again and again.

"You'll just cover us when we are running, right Will? Then you'll leave immediately after most of us are out." I needed to know that he wouldn't be far behind me when we escape.

"I just have one more job to do once I see that you are out Gabi." I stared at him in confusion. Will stared coldly at the floor, his mind far away. I tried to guess what he meant. Then it came to me. Günter.

"Oh, Will. Please just forget about him. God will have to punish him, not you." I felt Will's body tense up in anger. This was the way he always was before we met. He had told me that Günter was all he could think about at the meetings with the men. He wanted so badly to torture him for what he did to me. And I knew that no matter what I said, Will was going to make sure Günter was dead before he leaves tomorrow.

"I promised you Gabi. He's not going to go unpunished for what he has done to not only you, but thousands of other people." I knew that Will hated Günter more than any other Nazi officer in the entire camp. Günter took a special delight in torturing the Jews.

Will pulled me up onto his lap and stared at me for several minutes. "Then I can leave here" was all he said before he started kissing me again, ferociously. I ran my finger through his wavy, brown hair and savored the moment.

The next morning, all of the women in my barrack seemed to wake up at the exact same time.

"Gabi? Are you awake?" Nitza tiny voice came from behind me. I rolled over on my other side and smiled at her. "I'm so worried about today. What happens if I can't find Moshe in the forest? I will be all alone. I have no other family here." Nitza began sobbing. I sat up in my bunk and opened my arms to her. She fell into them and sobbed hard on my shoulder.

"There, there Nitza. You will always have me to look after you. And Jana and Moriel and most of all Moshe. You _**will**_ find him in the forest. Just stay with me when we make a run for it. Try your hardest not to get separated from me." Nitza's cries died down. "I will find my Will and you will find your Moshe and we can all live together with Jana and Moriel with the partisans in the forest until it is safe for us to live in the city. We will be neighbors!" I felt Nitza laugh at the thought of all of us becoming neighbors in the forest. I couldn't help but laugh as well. Then I remembered something important. I took out the little handgun from under my bunker and held it out to Nitza.

"Moshe told me to give this to you. All you have to do is point and pull the little trigger." Nitza looked at the gun in her hands and nodded. "Use it only when you need to Nitza."

"Alright Gabi." I kissed Nitza's delicate cheeks and got out of the bunk.

"Moriel?" I walked over to Moriel and Jana's bunk. Both were talking and laughing about something. Both stared at me with excited eyes. "Are you ready?"

Both sisters nodded their heads. "We will follow you into the forest Gabi. Then we will start searching for our parents and brother." Jana's smiled disappeared when she mentioned her family. Her head hung down on her shoulders. Moriel put her hand on her sisters shoulder. "I know they are alive Gabi. I can feel it." I crawled in their bunk with them.

"Then what is wrong, Jana?" Something was indeed bothering her.

"Well…I see something very dark too. Like something going wrong today costing somebody's life in a way. I don't know who it will be, but I do know that it will be someone we care about, dearly." Tears fell down her face. I slid closer to Jana and hugged her tightly.

"Nothing is going to go wrong. The men will take care of all the guards and we will all escape into the forest and reunite with them there." Jana's feeling bothered me. Not only had she seen Asya's death, which she only told to Moriel, but she also saw my decision I had to make with my baby before it even happened.

After going over once more our plan, I lined up all the women in my barrack. Everyone, even the kapo Bitya, lined up behind me. They all looked up to me as their leader. They depended on me to lead them to freedom.

When the guards opened the doors to our barrack, they were surprised to see all of us standing in line already. The Nazi guard smiled a terrifying smile and us.

"I guess you Jews are finally catching on" he sneered to us.

He motioned for us to line up in the courtyard. Nitza, Jana, and Moriel marched behind me. When we lined up in the courtyard, I glanced over at Nita. She smiled back at me. Our chain of smiles followed down our entire line.

Two hours passed while the Nazis did their usual head count. I knew that the time was coming when the parade of bullets and chaos would begin.

I took in a deep breath. Every day that I had spent in this terrible placed flashed through my mind. The betrayal from my father, separation from Will, my baby, Asya's death, and now this escape. I struck my hands in my pockets and gripped my handgun. I knew that once the shooting began, I would take out my gun and lead my group to the already, secretly, cut electrical fence. Any Nazi guards that got in our way would have to deal with me.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**The Escape**

We all waited patiently for Ariel's signal. He told us that he would scream the words "live to tell!" as loud as he could. That's when we were to would run to the fences.

It was only seconds until Ariel's signal would be heard. I shut my eyes and grabbed Nitza's hand, preparing to run. She let out a loud breath and squeezed my hand tightly.

Then I heard the words. Ariel's heroic words "live to tell" echo throughout the entire camp. That's when the shooting began. Nazis guards all around us dropped like flies. Their blood staining the air. All the women behind me scattered across the courtyard. I screamed for them to follow me, but panic swept over them and they went their own ways. Screams and bodies cluttered around everywhere. I screamed for Jana and Moriel. Somehow, in all the chaos, they had been separated from me. I looked over at Nitza and pulled her as fast as I could towards the fence behind barrack four. I had to literally push my way through the mass of bodies.

Guards in the watchtowers fired down at us. Everywhere, bodies dropped to the ground in a pool of blood next to each other. A stream of bullets kicked up dust behind our feet as we ran. I could just see the fence where we were going to crawl through. Masses of people crowded the area, creating confusion among them.

"STAY HERE NITZA! I'M JUST GOING TO CUT THE FENCE OPEN WIDER!" I screamed at the top of my lungs at Nitza, but I didn't think she heard me. The screams surrounding us drowned out my voice.

I shoved my way to the front of the fence. I used my bare hands to rip apart the fence. The barbed wire cut deep into my hands, causing them to bleed profusely. The pain was excruciating but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting these people out of here and to freedom.

I managed to pry open the fence wider and help the others through it. All of them were almost out when a stream of bullets engulfed us all. I ducked behind the barrack and prayed that Nitza wasn't hit. When the dust finally cleared, I saw that most of the crowd of people that were at the fence, were sprawled out on the ground dead. As soon as the dust cleared, I searched for Nitza. I found her curled up in a ball behind the barrack next to me. Luckily, she had not been hit by any of the bullets. I grabbed her hand and lead her towards the fence. It was now wide open and clear.

"Just run straight until you get to the forest! I'll meet you there with everyone, including Moshe." Nitza's eyes lit up when I said his name. I shoved her through the fence just as another stream of bullets came my way. I took cover again behind barrack four. I thought I was safe when something hit my leg, _**hard**_. The pain exploded in my right leg. I fell to the floor and landed on my stomach. I let out a loud scream as the pain in my leg got worse. I took a few seconds to collect what was left of my strength and crawled towards the fence. I could see prisoners running at full speed to the forests and disappearing into the dense trees. I smiled to myself. _Our plan worked! Some made it to the forest! _I tried to stand, but fell back to the ground when the pain in my leg shot throughout my body. Warm, sticky blood gushed from my leg and stained the ground under me. I rolled on my back and hovering over me was no one else but Günter. He held his rifle towards me and smiled.

"Did you think I'd forget about you, pretty German Jew?" He threw his head back and laughed. I tried to lift myself back up, but fell back down. Günter raised his boot above my stomach and stomped on it hard. I tried to scream but the wind was completely knocked out of me. I gasped for air. Günter wanted to make sure that I was dead. He swung his leg right into my face creating an explosion of pain spread across my entire face. Then I felt a sharp pain in my right arm. Günter had grabbed it and started to twist it with all his might until the bone snapped. Blood rushed to my head quickly. I could no longer scream. Then, he did the same thing to my wounded leg. The sound of the bone cracking was deafening in my head. I tried to move, but the pain in my injured limbs was too horrible. I had absolutely no way of getting away from Günter. I wished out loud for God to kill me. I wished for him to get Will safely to the forest and to put me out of this torture. That's when everything began to spin and I felt very cold. I laid my head on the ground and waited for death to come. Waves of pain shot through my entire body. I though about Will and my baby, Rena. I though about my dream of Will and I living on the country side somewhere, happy. My breathing became short and fast. Then, amidst all the screams and chaos around me, I heard someone call me name.

"GABRIELE!" I struggled to open my eyes and look in the direction of where my name was coming from. The voice was muffled, but I could tell that they were saying my name. I looked up at Günter and saw a look of terror on his face. Bullets shot through his body. He screamed out in pain and fell to the ground. I looked to my side and saw Günter laying on his side with blood pouring from his mouth and nostrils.

"Oh, Gabi! Please, hang on! I'm here now, Gabriele! I found you and I won't leave you!" cried a voice. I tried to make out who it was, but everything sounded and felt different. "Gabriele, it me! It's Will!" I snapped me eyes open at the word "Will". It was indeed him, kneeling over me, panic in his eyes.

"Will" I whispered. "People made it. Our plan was a success." I tried to speak louder, but my voice wouldn't let me. I reached up with all my strength and touched Will's face with my good arm.

"I'm going to get you out of here Gabriele. Just hold on to me tight." I felt Will's arms slide under my back and legs and me cradle me against his chest. I hugged his neck with my arms and hid my face in his shoulder. People were still running around, confused around us.

"Will!" Another voice called out to us. It was Jacob. He still had a gun in his hand. "This way!" he yelled to us. I cried out from the pain in my leg and arm.

"Shhhh, we are almost there Gabriele. Just hang on to me. We're almost to the forest." I hugged Will tighter. I could tell that I was slowing down.

"Leave me Will" I whispered to him in his ear. "I'll slow you down. Please just leave me here and go to the forest."

Will shook his head at me. "Never."

I could see the front gate with my blurred vision. Blood started to gather around my left eye, blurring my vision. All the guards that were surrounding it were dead, along with many other prisoners. You could smell the blood in the air. I looked behind me and saw the last few prisoners struggling to reach the gate with us. Then, out of the cloud of dust behind us, a Nazi guard emerged, gun in hand. He pointed it at us and fired.

Will let out a yelp. He had been hit in the back, the worst spot to be shot. Jacob spun around and opened fire on the Nazi. The wild look on Jacob's face could tell me that he had no problem killing this Nazi.

Despite the pain, Will kept running until we passed the fence and where heading towards the forest. I could see it from there. The pain in my legs and arms was horrible. I could tell that I was about to loose consciousness from the amount of blood I had lost. I let my head fall on Will's shoulder.

"We're almost…" Will let out a loud breath, "there". Will's breathing became heavy and I could tell that he was in a lot of pain.

The last thing that I remember was Will stumbling and starting to fall. Jacob reached out and took me in his arms from Will before we both fell.

"Get her to the forest. I'll follow you!" Will fell to the floor, clutching his stomach.

"But, Will…" Jacob started to panic. He kept looking back and forth from the forest to Will. "What about you?!" Jacob tightened his grip around me.

"NOW! JACOB GO!" I lifted my head from Jacob's shoulder and looked down at Will. The pain in my leg and arm was nothing compared to seeing my one true love lying on the ground, dieing. It was all my fault. He would have made it if not for me slowing him down so much.

"NO! Jacob, put my down! I want to stay with him! I'm not going to leave you Will!" I tired to push away from Jacob.

"I'll come back for him, Gabriele!" Jacob struggled with carrying me. Somehow, I managed to slip my way out of his arms and fall to the ground. The pain in my legs and arms returned. I screamed for Will who was just ten feet away from me.

"Go Gabriele! I'll meet you in the forest!" Will tried to get up but fell back on the ground. Jacob quickly picked me back up again and ran as fast as he could towards the forest. I could see a Nazi guard heading towards Will, gun in hand. I used my last bit of energy to scream for Will before being surrounded by complete darkness.

I woke up later that night. I was laying on top of soft moss with a woolen blanket on top of me. I looked down at my leg and arm and saw that they had stitches in them and had been bandaged up. The complete darkness that surrounded me was frightening. I shoved the blanket off me and tried to stand up.

Two hands caught me before I fell back onto the soft moss. "Lay back down dear. I'll get him." The voice startled me. It was a soft voice that was not familiar. I obeyed his orders and laid back again.

"Will" I tried to scream, but just came out in a hoarse whisper. "Where is Will?" More shadows started to surround me. I soon felt comfort when I noticed that they were of Jana, Moriel, Moshe, Nitza and Jacob. Jacob put a soft hand on my forehead and spoke quietly to me.

"I'm so sorry Gabi. I had promised Will that I would get you back to the forest no matter what." Tears filled his soft, brown eyes. I closed my eyes.

"It's alright Jacob. But…" I didn't want to ask the question. I was to afraid of what the answer would be. "Where is he?" The lump in my throat got bigger and bigger as I spoke. Jacob nodded his head in a direction.

"Will?" Tears fell from my face. He laid on top of a small bunk. His breathing was slow and loud. I tried to move myself closer to him, but the pain in my limbs had not healed, causing the worst pain I had ever felt.

"He's resting now Gabi. And you should do the same." Jacob gently pushed my shoulders back onto the ground. I struggled with all my might until I could stand the pain no longer.

"Please! I have to be with him." I looked around at the faces near me. Jana, Moriel, Moshe, and Ariel looked down at me with glossy eyes. Ariel stepped forward and knelt down beside me.

"Gabi, the bullet punctured his kidney slightly. The doctor said that he will be fine, but…" Ariel bowed his head and took in a deep breath. "It's up to God now. We're all lucky _you_ survived. The doctor was certain that your injuries were deadly. But your alive now." I looked at him in disbelief.

"You don't understand. He can't die! I can't live without him." My body shook painfully as I cried to myself.

"Can't I just bring her closer to him?" Ariel stood up and addressed the doctor, I presumed, and talked to him quietly. After a few moments, the doctor nodded and Ariel came back closer to me. He picked me up gently and brought me closer to Will.

"I'm right here with you Will" I whispered in his ear. Everyone slowly walked away. They were all thinking that Will would never wake up. But I couldn't loose hope. "Will, I know your stronger than they all think. That's why I need you to open your eyes." I raised my stronger arm and touched Will's face. He was burning with fever. I closed my wet eyes and rested my head on the cold ground beside him and began to hum a lullaby my mother used to sing to me whenever I was sick. I cried for what seemed like hours until I fell asleep. I woke up to find Will's arm around my body. I turned my face towards him and quietly whispered his name.

"Will." I gently shook his shoulder until finally his eyes slowly opened. I burst out into tears. "Will, it's Gabi." I tried to make my voice louder, but it just came out hoarse from an entire night of crying.

"Gabi? Your alive." Will brought me close to him and hugged me tightly. We kissed each other passionately until we both had to come up for air.

"Oh Will, I thought you were dead." I wrapped my arms around him tightly and held him as close as our two bodies would let us. "But your not. Your hear with me now and we made it out of that hell."

"I love you so much Gabi." Will looked at my badly injured leg and arm. "What did he do to you?" Tears filled his eyes as he examined my injuries.

"It looks a lot worse than it feels" I lied. "But it doesn't matter because we both are alive now."

"That's right." Will gently took my right arm in his hands and kissed my bandages above my elbows where Günter had broken the bone.. Then he did the same to my other arm. I smiled at him as he did this.

Later that week when we had all had a chance to recover from our injuries, we were reunited with each other and introduced to the partisans. They were very kind and welcomed us into their army. We all sat around a roaring fire and discussed what had happened and what our next plans were for the future. It turned out that Will, myself, Jacob and Ariel were the last prisoners to leave the camp. The men all choose to stay behind to make sure everyone had gotten out.

"How many managed to escape Will?" Ariel leaned in closer to Will and I with interest. The fire crackled and popped as we all spoke.

"Well, there are 150 of us here. God knows how many others made it elsewhere. It's most likely that…more died than escaped." I grabbed Will's hand and squeezed it tightly. I glanced over my shoulder to Moshe and Nitza. Moshe had Nitza in his arms and was whispering in her ear. The sight of them together reminded me much of myself and Will. I was so happy that I was able to bring them back together.

A strong, tall man who was the leader of the partisans named Albert informed us of what our plans should be. He a very good leader because he gave respect to any person who earned it.

"You and your people are welcome to stay with us for as long as you like. But if you wish to leave, don't go anywhere near Germany. Your best shot is England, if you can make it there safely." He used many hand motions when he spoke. "I advise you all to stay until you are fully recovered." He smiled at all of us around the fire. It was getting cold and I still had my prison uniform on which was nothing but rags. Will noticed this and pulled me closer to him.

"May we have some warmer clothes Albert?" Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"My friends, you may have whatever you like here." Albert got up and walked towards the cave where all their supplies were kept. He returned moments later with stocks of shirts, pants, socks and scarves. Jana, Moriel, Nitza and I went up first and choose our warm clothing. I grabbed the first piece of clothing I touched because after wearing what I had for so long, they all looked like royalty clothing to me. Moriel helped me get dressed. My leg was still badly injured as well as my arm. The feeling of soft cloth on my body instead of wool gave me goose bumps. When I sat back down next to Will by the fire, he had already gotten his clothing and dressed. He was talking with Albert about something. When he saw me sit back down in my place on the log, he walked back down and sat beside me. His bullet wound in the back had healed well. I touched it gently with my fingers and frowned.

"Are you in any pain Will?" I traced the bandages lightly with my fingers.

"Not really. I can at least walk now. But it's you I'm worried about Gabi. Your arm and leg. Can you put any weight on it?"

"Just a little." A long silence passed by. "Will, where do you want to go after the war is over?" I braced myself for his answer. I hoped that he would say somewhere other than my home. I wanted to go someplace where we could start off fresh with our lives. Somewhere with no bad memories to think about.

"Maybe America?" Will thought for a second out loud. "Let's see, the year is 1945 and we are in Germany. We could sneak a train to America and eventually becomes citizens." I smiled at the thought of living in America where so many other Jews managed to flee safely. I touched Will's shoulder. His body was tense. I leaned in closer to his face.

"And we can have a big white house… on a farm with lots of animals. We can go to the lake to swim and have picnics there whenever we want and watch the sunset on our giant porch at our house." A huge grin spread across Will's beautiful face. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. "And we can throw a giant party…a wedding party! We will invite Jana, Moriel, Nitza, Moshe, Ariel, Jacob and whoever else we want! Does that sound nice?" I grew more and more excited as I spoke. Will laughed as I told him all the details of our wedding and the cake we were going to have and what my wedding dress would look like.

"Whatever you want…I will give it to you." I stared into Will's hazel eyes and smiled.

"I only want you" I whispered in his ear. The fire behind us began to die down. The snapping of burning wood silenced. The two of us were too distracted by each other that we had not heard Albert calling us.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"Will…" I heard Albert's footsteps get closer and closer to us until he was standing right behind me. "I'm sorry but can I borrow him for a little while Gabi?" I hesitantly broke away from Will's stare and looked up at Albert.

"Sure" I laughed.

The two of them gathered the rest of the men and huddled together in their own group. I sat by myself by the dying fire and through some more wood on top of it. I stared at the flames licking the air above it. Then, I felt someone's presence behind me but for some reason couldn't look away from the fire. The person sat down next to me. I turned my head slowly and stared at this unfamiliar person. It was a man, about my age. He had a short, black beard and grey eyes that anyone could see a mile away. The man sat down a little too close for comfort next to me. He leaned in forward and rested his forearms on his knees. He wore a white shirt with the sleeve rolled up to his elbows, and brown corduroys. I continued my trance on the fire until his voice broke my concentration.

"So your German?" His voice was soft yet authoritive. I stared at him in confusion. _What an odd conversation starter_. My life is none of his business.

"Why do you want to know what my religion is…or was?" I turned my head and focus back to the growing fire. He laughed to himself. I snapped my head to him in anger.

"What could you possibly be laughing at?" My breathing became heavy and I was really getting annoyed with this person.

"I'll take that as a yes." I clenched my fists with rage and turned my back to him like a child would do. He noticed this and stopped laughing. "Hey lady, sorry if I offended you. It's just…" he put his hand over his mouth to try to muffle his laughter.

"WHAT!" I threw my hands in the air and sighed.

"It's just so ironic. You're a German, who helped a Jew hide from the Nazis, got captured by her own people, survived Treblinka death camp, and now you are hiding with the partisans!" He bounced up and down with laughter. "You're a German that tried to save a Jew and almost got killed herself!" The man threw his head back and roared with laughter. I wanted to stand up and smack him across the face, but instead I just tried my hardest to ignore him but it seemed the harder he laughed, the sadder I became. Tears fell down my face as I stared into the flames, arms crossed. I hoped that Will would be done with talking with the other men soon.

"If you only knew what I had to do and what I saw, you wouldn't think it was so funny" I whispered to myself. The man heard me and leaned in closer to me. He backed away when he saw me crying. He looked down at his hands and stopped laughing. A long silence passed by.

"I'm sorry that I laughed. Your right, it's not funny. I actually admire your courage. Not many people would have done what you had done." I tunred my back away from him and looked at him. I could tell that he was sincere. He flashed me a gently smile.

"How do you know all of that?" I wiped the tears from my eyes and got a better look at him.

"Will told me everything. God, I never met a man so in love with a woman before. It's refreshing to know that hate is not the only feeling left in the world." I blushed at the thought of Will talking so much about me.

"I'm Roger by the way." He outstretched his hand to me. I took it carefully and shook it. "It's nice to meet you."

I looked back at Will and caught his eye. He crossed his eyes and bulged his cheeks out, making himself look like a monkey. I burst out into laughter. He looked so funny. When Ariel playfully elbowed Will in the ribs and his face got serious again as he joined back into the conversation.

"So do you have any family, Roger?" I needed to talk to someone now that Will was away. Jana and Moriel were flirting with other partisans and Nitza and Moshe never separated.

"Yes. My wife, Anna and child, Tristan are here with me." I looked at him wide eyed.

"You have a child?" He let out a chuckled and nodded to me.

"Yes. My darling son Tristan has just turned four. I brought them here from Lublin, Poland when our area was under attack. We are Christians but our area was where a lot of Jews lived." Roger turned around and called out his family's name. "Anna! Tristan! Come here, I want you to meet someone." A beautiful woman carrying a restless child walked towards us. She had long, curly, red hair with rosy cheeks and blue eyes. Her smile was kind. Tristan had the same jet black hair as his father and brown eyes. Anna set him down on his feet and he ran to Roger.

"Tristan, this is Gabi. Will's wife." Tristan looked up to me and giggled.

"Hi Gabi" he said. I smiled back and laughed with him. He stuck out his tiny hand to me and I shook it.

"Hello Tristan. Hello Anna." She sat down between Roger and I.

"You're the German, right?" She asked me with excitement. Was I the main attraction in this place?

"Yes." She nodded her head and turned back to Roger and Tristan. Roger bounced Tristan up and down on his knee, causing Tristan to squeal with laughter. I looked at the three of them with envy and heart break. I thought about that dreadful night in the barrack when I gave birth to my child and had to make the hardest decision of my life. My beautiful baby Rena. Tears rimmed my eyes. I stood up abruptly and ran away from them deeper into the woods.

"Gabi, what's wrong?" I ignored Roger and ran past him.

I ran as fast as I could until I couldn't hear anyone from the group anymore. I sank down to my knees and cried. It didn't feel fair. Why were others able to have a family and life they had always wanted and I couldn't? But then I thought again. I did have a family. I had Will and that was all the family I needed to have. I also had Jana, Moriel, Nitza, Jacob, Moshe, Ariel and Samuel. And now that we have escaped from that hell called Treblinka, we were on our way to having a life we always wanted. I was sitting on the damp, cold, forest floor when I heard voices. German voices. _**Male**_ German voices. A sudden jolt of shock ran through my body. I quickly got to my feet and ran at full speed back towards the partisans. The trees around me blurred in my vison. I felt my heart beat faster and faster as I ran. The voices got louder behind me. I knew that they were following me. I was running so fast that I didn't see the person running towards me until it was too late. I smacked into him and fell to the ground hard. It took me a minute to focus but when I did I noticed that it was Roger. Will was standing right behind him.

"We have to go now Gabi! Hurry!" Will grabbed my hand and followed Roger in the opposite direction of our camp. I heard dogs barking not far behind us. Roger held his gun in his hand and fired behind us. The sound of the explosion of the gun was defining.

"How did they find us Roger?" I saw the look in Will's face as we ran. He wasn't frightened, more confused and disappointed. We had finally found a place where we thought we would be safe.

"I don't know. We are too far away from the camp for them to have seen or heard us." He fired to more shots in the direction of the voices following us. I let out a small scream as the bullets were let off into the air. Will squeezed my hand tighter and pulled me faster.

I gathered my voice and asked "where are the others?" I prayed that we were not the only ones left.

"They all got out. We heard those damn German's coming our way." Roger looked to me. "Sorry, I meant damn Nazis." I nodded my head and ran as hard as I could. The men were much faster than me and I felt that I was slowing them down.

"Why did you leave the camp Gabi?" Will asked me. I held back tears in my eyes. I felt so stupid. I had let my emotions take over my sense of common sense and now look at what I had done. I had put Roger and my dear husband Will in danger because of my emotions. Roger looked over his shoulder at me and saw how distraught I was.

"It's my fault Will. I'm so sorry Gabi. I should have thought before…" Will looked back and forth between me and Roger with a sad expression.

"No Roger. I shouldn't have left like that."

Roger opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could, bullets whizzed right by my body. Will pulled me behind a tree for cover. Roger took the tree right across from us. Will took out his gun from his back pocket and pulled the safety off. I tried to quiet my breathing. We all were panting from running so hard. I looked down at my blouse and saw it bouncing up and down from the rhythm of my heart beats.

Will turned his head and stared at Roger. Roger was giving Will some strange hand signals that I had never seen before. Will nodded his head and pulled out a second gun from his pocket and handed it to me. I took it in my trembling hands and tried to steady it in my grasp.

"Listen to me Gabi" Will whispered in my ear. "There are only four of them. When Roger gives the signal, him and I are going to fight them. I want you to run as fast as you can straight when that happens. Use your gun if you have to Gabi. Promise me that." I tried to speak, but instead I just nodded my head.

With one nod, Roger gave the signal and the two of them ran out from behind the trees and fired continuously at the four German Nazis. I ran in the direction I was told to when I was stopped by a familiar voice calling out my name. out of pure instinct, I stopped in my tracks and turned around. All three Nazis were dead except for one who was lying near death on the ground. He had bullet wounds in his back and legs.

"Gabriele" the man whispered. Will held a hand up to Roger for him to not kill the man. I wondered why Will was doing this until I got a good look at the man's face. It was my father, Anto.

"Father?" I ran back towards them and stared down at my Nazi father, lying near death. "How could you do this father?" Will and Roger stared at me.

"Your still alive? Thank God, my dear Gabriele." I laughed quietly to myself at him.

"Yes I am father. And so is my husband. You sent us to our deaths and we survived." I squeezed tightly in my hand. "How could you have done this to me father! I had to kill my baby there because of what you had done! Do you know what I aw there? Do you know what I felt there?" Anger flared inside me. I screamed at him at the top of my lungs.

"I didn't want to Gabriele. It was my orders." He lowered his head in shame.

"You orders?! You sent your own child to her death! I begged you to not send Will and I there but you did…and you were proud of yourself!" Tears ran down my eyes. I looked up at Will for advice. He just shook his head in amazement. I knew that he wanted so badly to kill this man but would never until I said it was alright. But how could I kill him? He did send me and my husband to our deaths but he, no matter what, was still my father.

"We can keep him prisoner at our camp Gabi" Roger said solemnly. I let out a long breath and looked at my father. He was holding something.

"I'd rather DIE them be a prisoner to you, you stupid Jew!" My father quickly pulled out his little handgun and pointed it at Roger. Reflex took over and my arm shot up and fired at him before he could pull the trigger. The bullet had hit my father in the chest and killed him instantly. Roger looked at me for a long moment.

"Thank…you…" he stuttered.

I stared at my dead father and burst out into uncontrollable crying fit. My breathing was short and fast. I fell to the ground and let my head fall into my hands. Guilt washed over me.

"Oh father! I'm so sorry!" I screamed into my hands. I felt a hand placed on my shoulder. I looked up at Will and grabbed hold of his body. His arms folded around me and rocked me back and forth.

"Let's go Gabi" he whispered. Will grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet. Roger continued to stare down at my dead father in disbelief.

We met up with everyone else at our new location. The partisans were very organized. They always knew where they would go if there was ever a problem. Our new place was right by a little stream. Dense trees and other plants gave us good protection from the weather.

I didn't say a word for three days. I became overwhelmed by the guilt of murdering my father. Will would try to cheer me up, but it always resulted with a fake smile and me walking away. On the fourth day of living with the partisans, Will took my hand and lead my to a private place away from everybody.

"Gabi, nothing means more to me now than you. You know that don't you?" I sat down next to him next to a tall oak tree and smiled.

"Of course I do Will. And the same goes for me." He entwined his fingers with mine.

"Then you can imagine how I feel right now, seeing you in such pain. When your depressed Gabi, I'm depressed." I smiled at him and kissed his soft, warm lips.

"I've made peace with my past now, Will. I want to start my life all over again." Will smiled his big grin that I loved so much. His eyes reflected sunlight and made me melt. His wavy, brown hair flowed in the gentle breeze. I touched his cheek and kissed his lips. His smile got bigger as he reached out his hand to tickle my stomach gently. He had known how ticklish I was and always used to use this as a way to make me feel better. I roared with laughter as he tickled my stomach with his finger tips. I twisted and turned trying to find away to stop the tickling although I was loving every minute of it. I finally gave up and fell back onto the ground, trying to catch a breath. Will put one hand on the ground either side of me and hovered over me. I rested my head on the cool ground and smiled up at him. He lowered his head down closer to me and pressed his lips against mine. I lifted my head up slightly to make the kiss last longer.

"That's good because I was about to go crazy without the sound of your voice" Will said in between kisses. I felt his hands gently squeeze my waist.

"Lets start again…right now Will." I waited on the ground for his answer. He pulled away from me and stared at me.

"Are you sure you want to again? You know that I will always want children, but are you ready yet? I can wait as long as you need to."

I continued to lay down on the grass and think. I desperately wanted Will again and I really wanted a baby as well. But what if we are recaptured or I am killed? I can't do that again to another innocent life. I needed time.

"Maybe your right Will. I think we should wait just a little longer." I bit my lower lip and slowly followed my eyes to Will's face. He just smiled down at me and pulled himself closer to my face. His lips touched my cheek and traced up to my mouth.

"That's fine" he whispered.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**Saying Goodbye**

It was getting late at the camp. I spent almost the entire night chatting with Nitza and Moshe. I had no idea that Moshe was the only survivor of his entire family. I told them about my father and what I had done and what he had done to Will and I.

"And what about your mother?" Nitza's sweet voice had now matured into a woman's one. I shrugged my shoulders at her question.

"I haven't seen her for about two years. I don't think she'd want to see me ever again. I bet she wished death upon me once my father told her I was pregnant with a Jewish man's child." Nitza grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I have lost all my family Gabi. All I have left is you guys." She smiled at Moshe who melted into a puddle when she did. "It's going to be alright."

I couldn't get any sleep that night. I tried not to move around to much in my cot. I didn't want to wake Will up. Instead, I just stared at him sleeping. He looked so peaceful and calm. I thought about the first time we met and I helped him get home after he was attacked by some other blood thirsty Nazi Youths. How he kissed my hand and the butterflies I felt in my stomach when he left. Then I thought about the time I told him I was pregnant. He was so excited.

"God" I whispered to myself very quietly, "I want to give birth to a child that I know Will so desperately wants. I want one too, but… will I be forced to do to it the same I did to my dear, sweet Rena? I couldn't live with myself if I had to make that decision again. What should I do, God?" I shut my eyes and fell asleep.

In my dream, I was sitting alone by the creek Will and I went to so many times before Treblinka. I was staring at my reflection in the water. The sun beat down on me yet I was not hot. It was completely quiet when I heard a voice coming from nowhere, speaking to me. _Gabriele_ the voice said, _you should have the baby you yearn so much. Give it life, love it, and give it a life you always wanted to have. You and William are going to be great parents._ I looked in all directions for the voice but found it nowhere.

"But what if I am forced to do to it the same as I did to Rena?" I asked the mysterious voice.

_You will make the right decision if that time ever comes, but trust in me Gabriele, you have a baby and love it as much as you can. _

When I opened my eyes, I shot upright in my bed, as well as Will. We both stared at each other in disbelief. When had woken up at the exact same time and had the same reaction. I swallowed loudly and breathed heavily.

"I had the strangest dream Gabi." Will was also breathing heavily and seemed to be sweating. I felt my forehead and used the back of sweat to wipe my own sweat away.

"So did I." I stared at Will and wondered if he had the same dream I had. Will sucked in a long breath.

"I dreamt that a voice was telling me that we were able to have a child now. That everything was going to be ok and we would be able to love the child and give it a happy life." I covered my mouth with my hand and stared at Will.

"I had the same dream! We were at the creek again!" Will nodded his head and bit his lip. "I'm ready Will" I whispered in his ear.

"Me too Gabi."

The next morning, I woke up to find Will still sleeping. I slid out from under his arm and tip toed my way out of our tent and into the open air. It was a warm day which was a nice surprise after all the cold weather we had had lately. I took in a deep breath and sat down on an old boulder. Everyone was still asleep, so it was quiet.

"Good morning" a voice came from behind me. I spun around and saw Anna, Roger's wife, standing behind me. Her beautiful red hair was down on her shoulders and she was wearing a green dress.

"Hello Anna." I felt embarrassed at the thought of the last time we talked. "I'm so sorry about…well" I stared at my hands on my lap. I couldn't imagine the anger she might have felt towards me after knowing that both hers and my own husband came back for me when the Nazis discovered us. I couldn't have gotten her husband killed because of my stupid emotions.

Anna sat down beside me and put an arm around my shoulder. "It's alright Gabi. I heard what happened to you in the camp and now I understand much better." She smiled down at me.

"Yes" I whispered. Tears fell down my face and fell on my hands. I told my entire story to Anna, who was a great listener. I knew that if I didn't tell my story to someone, I would explode. I needed to let out all my anger and sadness by words.

"Well Gabi, you are one of the lucky ones from there. You still have Will. So many others have no one. I have lost so many friends to the war."

The two of us talked for a long time until everyone started waking up in our camp. Roger brought Tristan out to meet Anna. This time it didn't hurt so much to see all of them together.

Later that night, Albert put out his radio for all of us to hear. We all sat around the fire and listened attentively to the BBC, praying for good news. I sat beside Will and squeezed his hand tightly. We were all extremely nervous for what was going on outside of our camp. An older man's voice finally came on, informing us of the news on the war.

_"Today, Germany finally surrendered to the British and American army. We have already started the liberation of the concentration camps all over Europe. Many have little or no survivors left. Conditions in these camps are far too horrendous to explain in words. But to all you people who have suffered so much during these past few years, I 'd like to say that now you are free and it's time to start a new life for yourself. It looks like the war is finally over." _Albert shut off his radio and we all sat, stunned in silence. Nobody dared to move or even breath. Then one by one, everyone in our group began to cry. I threw myself at Will, who held onto me tightly and cried. I felt his body tremble beside mine.

"It's finally over Will!" I shouted. All around us, people were kissing and hugging each other. Nobody knew what else to do.

"We're free! We're free!" was all any of us could finally say.

That night, we had a big party. Albert broke out all of his beer, wine and best foods. I couldn't remember the last time I had had such a good time. We danced and sand all night long until we were so tired, we were practically falling asleep on each other.

"When would you like to leave for America Will?" I asked him as he entered our tent and climbed into the cot with me. "This is so exciting! We have so much to do and learn Will." He laid down next to me and smiled.

"I think we should leave in a week for America. We need to get fake passports and papers. Albert says he can get them for all of us. But Gabi…" Will stared at me, trying to think of the words to say, "don't you want to go home first and see your mother? What if she isn't the way that you think she is. Maybe she's dying to see you." I sat up in my cot sighed.

"I don't want anything to do with them anymore Will. They are not my family that I knew. You are the only person I want to be with now." I kissed Will's hands and rested my head on the soft pillow thinking about America.

A week later, I was awaken by Will. I was usually awake before him which worried me.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing Gabi. Albert has our papers ready. Everyone is leaving today." Will smiled and pointed to a small suitcase packed in the corner of our tent. Sadness swept over me. I didn't know that everyone was leaving to early. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to all my good friends. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I slowly got up and dressed myself for the day. I combed through my hair quickly and made my way outside. Jana, Moriel, Ariel, Shmuel, Moshe, Nitza and Jacob we all gathering around the fire place with their bags packed. Each one was thanking their partisan friends and Albert. I met Will and walked towards everyone.

"We will find a way to contact you Gabi. I promise. Moshe was able to find his cousin in Palestine and we will be living with them there. I promise to find a way to contact you in America soon." Nitza gave me a long, hard hug and stared at me with tears in her eyes. I couldn't help but cry as well. I remembered her as the shy fifteen year old I met in Treblinka the first day I arrived. Now, she had grown into a beautiful seventeen year old woman. I was proud of her and so happy that she had found Moshe to take care of her.

"Well…we have to see each other soon. Who else can be my maid of honor?" A huge smile spread across both our faces as we hugged again.

"Thank you Gabi" she whispered in a serious tone. I felt the tears spill over my eye lids. I turned to Moshe and made sure he had all the correct papers.

"We'll be fine Gabi. My cousin says that many Jews have already begun to flee to Palestine. It's safe there, especially now that the war is over." I hugged him with all my might and kissed his forehead. After everyone said their last goodbyes to Moshe and Nitza, they got into a cab and drove away.

Jana and Moriel were preparing themselves to leave to England with Jacob. Jacob had nowhere to go, so the two sisters welcomed him to live with them in London. They had been able to buy three boarding tickets on boat there and were leaving today as well.

"We will be in London Gabi, so if we aren't able to contact you please try to contact us." Jana kissed my cheeks and tried to hide the fact that she was crying. Moriel hugged me tight.

"We will see each other soon Gabi. Now that the war is over, we can have a much easier life and a more pleasant one." Her voice was chocked up making it harder to understand her. "Peace for you and Will" she said as she gave Will a goodbye hug and said her last thanks to Albert.

Jacob wasn't as strong about this as I thought which I found very sweet. Him and Will had become best friends throughout all of this. Saying goodbye to each other was like saying goodbye between brothers.

"Take care my friend" Will said as he hugged Jacob and patted his back. Jacob said something I didn't catch to Will which made them both laugh. "Goodbye Gabi. Take care of him." Jacob gave me a long, tight hug and joined Jana and Moriel in their cab to the boat dock which was about an hour away from our camp.

It turned out that Ariel and Shmuel were both staying with Albert and the partisans. They choose to fight with them instead of leaving. I admired their courage and so did Will. We were the only ones from Treblinka left to leave. Will and Albert went over our plans over and over, checking and re-checking our papers. We were going to board a boat to America and live in the country side, just like I had thought. I was both nervous and excited to be living in America after all the good things I had heard about it. But I didn't really care where I lived as long as Will was by my side.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**Reunion With the Past**

"Mama, Papa! Look!" Both Will and I dropped what we were doing and welcomed our son home from school. "I got all the answers correct on my test today!"

Our six year old son, Simon, beamed with excitement and self accomplishment as he showed us his examine paper. It had been six years since all the death and hate had almost destroyed both Will and I. But now it was all different. We had made it to America safely and were living the perfect life. We almost immediately had our wedding party as soon as we moved into a house in America. Will had remembered everything I had described to him about what I had always dreamed my wedding would be like and made it all happen. We invited all of our new American friends we had made who were very kind and some of our old ones. Jana, Moriel and Jacob showed up along with Albert, Ariel and Shmuel. We were so glad to see them but disappointed that Nitza and Moshe couldn't be contacted. I prayed that they had made it safely to Palestine. But soon after the party, we eventually lost touch with all our old friends.

The wedding was everything I had ever wanted and more. Will had been able to get a very good job at a construction builder in America and was able to support us in a way that we could have the life we always dreamt of. Our cozy, little home we bought sat right in the country side, with a lake down the road and a porch around our house…just like I had described to Will years ago.

Our love for each other was growing stronger and stronger as each day passed. It took some time, but eventually we were able to rebuild our lives, replacing hate with love and forgiveness. There was no point in holding grudges. We both agreed that hating all the people who had hurt us was useless and just lowered ourselves to their level.

"That's wonderful son" Will lifted Simon on his lap and reviewed his paper. I waddled my pregnant self over to them and kissed the top of my son's head. Every time I looked at Simon, I saw Will's features shine. His brown hair, chestnut eyes and beautiful smile were almost identical to Will's.

I hadn't seen or heard from anyone of my friends from my past since the wedding party and eventually just learned to live with the fact that they were living their own lives and I was living mine.

Nine years later, Simon was fifteen and started bringing girls home. That really surprised us. Hazel our daughter, was growing into a very mature child for her age unlike her brother. Simon was always the wild, risk taking but smart one in the family. Hazel diffidently took after myself. Even at the age of nine, she was very involved with politics and other topics that surprised but gladdened me. Her blondish brown hair and chestnut eyes revealed a little of both Will and I.

"Mama, Papa, this is Rachael." Simon brought home his fourth girl of the month home to Will and I one day unexpectedly. We had negotiated a rule with Simon that he must always have his girlfriend meet with us before they go anywhere.

Will, Hazel and I stood side by side and looked at Rachael. She seemed to be different from all the other girl's. She had a genuinely kind personality and beautiful features. Simon turned to mush each time she looked at him. When she left, Will and I would always evaluate the girls and tell Simon if she is good enough for our son.

"I liked her, Will. They reminded me so much of the way you and I were when we first met." I sat down on Will's lap and hugged his neck. He wrapped his arm around my waist and rubbed my back, just like he did when we were younger.

"She was a nice girl, but I just don't like the fact that in about a week, Simon's going to dump her for another one." Will sighed and leaned back his head on the couch cushion.

"He's just a child still. He is just going through some sort of a stage in his life right now where he's learning about girls. But he's smart, Will. He's knows what to do."

A few years later, Hazel was sixteen and Simon was twenty two. Simon had grown up into a fine man still dating Rachael. He would constantly tell us how much her loved her and that he was going to marry her someday. Hazel hadn't found a boyfriend yet, which was fine for Will and I.

Almost every night, Will would bring me out on the porch and we would both watch the sun go down. I would tell him everything I had done at the house and he would tell me everything he had done at work.

One day, just before the sun went down, Will and I were chatting away when a cab pulled up in front of our house. We never really known anyone that could afford a cab so this gave us suspicion. When the door opened, a young man and woman stepped out carrying presents and flowers with them. They both had on fine clothing and looked to be only twenty.

"GABI!!" the young woman called out to me. I stood up and walked up closer to her to get a good look at her face. It took me a moment but then I recognized who it was.

"Oh my god, Nitza!" It was indeed Nitza. The shy, bony girl from my past was standing right in front of me holding bundles of flowers. She was wearing a plain blue dress and her hair was down on her shoulders. She had grown up to be such a beautiful women that she didn't need to wear any make-up. "And is that you Moshe?!" I clasped my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming. I ran over to Nitza and hugged her for a long time. There was so many questions that we wanted to ask each other but at the moment all we could do was cry and jump with excitement.

"I knew you and Will would still be together" she whispered to me. I turned to Moshe and smiled. He had gotten so handsome and grown up since the last time I saw him. His bronze hair had turned a lot darker since the last time we saw each other. He had also gotten a lot taller and had a more muscular build.

"You two look so nice! I'm so glad you two made it alright after all these years." Will stepped forward and embraced both of them.

"These are for you guys. We heard that we missed your wedding party and felt so terrible. I hope you can forgive us, we only just heard from Jana and Moriel that you two were in America still." Nitza held out a beautiful bouquet of flowers and lots of presents.

"Oh Nitza, Moshe. You really didn't have to do all this!" Will took all the gifts and ushered both of them inside. "Come, I want you to meet our children!" Nitza jumped at the word "children". Both she and Moshe stared at me in amazement. Moshe walked over to Will and the two of them sat down in the living room, talking about what they had been doing these past years. I grabbed Nitza's hand and led her to my kitchen. She smiled widely when she got a good look at it.

"Gabi, your house is perfect. Just right for you and Will." I hugged her again. I was so glad to see her. Back when we first met, we had become best friends throughout everything. Seeing her alive and well just made me feel as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I called Hazel and Simon into the kitchen. They both came running down and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Nitza.

"Simon, Hazel. This is one of my good friends from long ago, Nitza." She stepped forward and stuck out her hand for both of them.

"It's so nice to see you. You really have no idea." Simon and Hazel both looked at her in confusion, but I knew what she meant. After everyone was introduced, I invited Nitza and Moshe to stay for dinner.

"That would be wonderful Gabi." Moshe put an arm around my shoulder. "You haven't changed a bit, still kind and still generous."

All night, we four chatted about how life has been since the war. We never said words like Treblinka, Nazis, burning, or any of the other words that could have triggered a bad memory. When it was time to say goodbye, I could feel the tears welling up in me.

"We'll be back soon Gabi. I'm so glad we found you guys." Tears streamed down her face as we hugged one last time. It felt as if we were back in 1945 and with the partisans, saying goodbye.

"Take care Moshe" I whispered as we embraced. He smiled down at me and assured me they'd come back as soon as they were able to.

After cleaning up, Simon and Hazel came down stairs with confused expressions on their faces.

"Mama, Papa?" Simon and Hazel sat down at the kitchen table and motioned for us to sit down with them. I had no idea what was troubling them so much and this worried me.

"What is it?" Will placed his hand on Simon's shoulders and the both of us sat down with them. Hazel's face was red and swollen from crying.

"What happened to you two during the war? How did you meet Nitza?" I quickly glanced over to Will. We knew this day was going to come. We knew that we would have to explain our past to our children someday.

"Simon, Hazel…your papa and I were two very different people back then. I was German and he was Jewish." Old memories, both good and bad filled my head. "And even with the war brainwashing me to believe that Jews were less than nothing and all should be killed to _cleanse_ Germany of it's problems, I managed to find Will---papa and fall in love with him." Will placed his hand on mine. Tears blurred my vision as I looked up at my children.

"Why don't we have any family mama? I see kids everyday strolling down the street with their grandparents and having parties with their aunts and uncles. Why don't we have that?" Hazel, my beautiful daughter, looked at me for a long moment looking like a woman far from her age. I felt Will's hands tremble. I squeezed them tightly.

"You had a wonderful family children. I met them and from the moment I stepped in their home, they welcomed me like just another member of the family. Except for Will's stubborn brother Simon." Will and I both laughed to ourselves at the thought of Simon and his spite towards me. How much he had changed before he died. "The Nazis killed all of them one night, except for papa. He came to my house and I hid him from my parents, the Nazis…the whole world. Then we moved him and Simon who was just barley alive to my mother's friend's house. That's where papa asked me to marry him and where your uncle Simon died." It went silent for at least three minutes. After a long and awkward of silent tension, Simon stood up and put both arms around Will and I. He hugged us tightly. Eventually Hazel joined our hug. Everyone seemed to be crying.

"What happened after that mama?" Hazel sat down on my lap and hugged my neck as if she were five years old again. I put my arm around her shoulder and continued to tell them about how their grandfather turned us into the Nazis and were sent to Treblinka. I told them all about Asya, Jana, Moriel, Jacob, Ariel, Shmuel and the partisans. They were wide eyed when I told them about the part when we made our escape from Treblinka.

By the time I finished Will and my selves tale, everyone just sat in silence. I looked at Will and noticed that he was trying not to cry.

"Will you just give us a moment kids?" They both stood up and walked up the stars quietly. I waited until I heard their doors slam until I spoke. 

"Will, I know what day it is today. It's Rena's twenty seventh birthday. Is that why you were so quiet today?" He looked up at me with tear filled eyes and nodded his head. I broke down into uncontrollable sobs and buried my face in my hands. I let out long, loud cries. I had vowed to never cry over my past again for there was no point in getting upset over it now, but today everything had changed. Today part of my past found me. It's not that I wasn't thrilled to see Nitza and Moshe after all these years, it's just…I wasn't ready. I wasn't prepared for the sudden flashback of so many horrible memories that have haunted me for so long.

Later that night when everyone was asleep, I got up and went outside to sit on my porch. It had to have been at least four o'clock in the morning but I just couldn't sleep. I plopped down in one of the wooden rocking chairs and stared out into space. So many thoughts flooded my head. _I shouldn't have let them take my baby! I shouldn't have let my father taken Will and I to the camp. I shouldn't have let…_

For the first time in my life, I felt physically sick from all the guilt and pain of my past. I have thought about my baby Rena everyday since the day I let her be killed. Why didn't I go with my child? All of the other mothers went with their children to the gas.

"Gabi" Will's voice came from behind me in my ear, "you gave her a second chance." I turned my head around and wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt his strong hands grip my waist and pull me closer to him.

"I know that now Will. And, I think I'm finally able to let the past go now. I'm ready to walk down the road of peace and forgiveness and into a world where I no longer feel any pain or guilt about my past." Will gently kissed my cheeks and nodded his head. "Will you come with me for that walk Will?" We pulled apart and looked at each other for a long moment.

"As long as your there Gabi, I'll walk to the end of the earth and back."


End file.
